The Russian city of Orenburg battled rising water levels after major rivers across Russia and Kazakhstan burst their banks after fast-than-usual snow melts in the worst flooding seen in nearly a century.
“It came very quickly at night,” Taisiya, 71, told Reuters in Orenburg, a city of 550,000 about 1200 kilometres east of Moscow. “By the time I got ready, I couldn’t get out.” Water levels were also rising in Siberia’s Tyumen, where more than 7000 people were evacuated, and in Kurgan, where about 6000 people were evacuated. The flooding of the Ishim river in Russia’s Tyumen region is due to peak between April 23 and 25.After the Ural burst through dam embankments in Orsk, upstream from Orenburg, on Friday, some residents expressed anger over how local officials had handled the situation, demanding greater compensation and begging for help from Putin.
“In some places the water has not arrived yet and in other places it has not flowed away yet, but we need to think right now on how to rebuild housing,” Putin said.Spring flooding is a usual part of life across Russia – which has an area equal to the United States and Australia combined – as the heavy winter snows melt, swelling powerful rivers in Russia and Central Asia.This year, though, a combination of factors triggered unusually severe flooding, according to emergency workers.