Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from areas at risk of being submerged in water across Kazakhstan and Russia amid the worst flooding in decades, officials said yesterday.
Fast-melting snow and ice have caused rivers that cross the two countries’ border regions to surge, flooding cities and roads and prompting local evacuation orders.
“Since the start of the flood [last month], 96,472 people have been rescued and evacuated, including 31,640 children,” Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said yesterday.
Photo: AFP / Maxar Technologies
That figure was 10,000 higher than one it gave on Tuesday. It said 24,000 people were involved in “round-the-clock” rescue-and-clearance operations, including pumping away water, laying barriers and carrying out “blast work” to prevent “ice jams.”
Forced evacuations were starting in the northern Kazakh city of Petropavlovsk, where a surge of water is expected to arrive over the next 48 hours.
“A huge flow of water is moving towards Petropavlovsk. Once again, I emphasize: huge,” state media quoted regional head Gauez Nurmukhambetov as saying.
The flooding has hit areas across the northwest of Kazakhstan, as well as the Orenburg, Tyumen and Kurgan regions of Russia, just across the border. In the city of Orenburg, home to 550,000 people, officials said water levels in the Ural River had risen 81cm over the past 24 hours.
The river depth stood at 978cm yesterday morning, well above the “critical level” of 930cm.
“According to expert forecasts, today it will rise again by another 30 to 70 centimeters,” the city administration said on Telegram.
Officials had warned earlier this week that yesterday could see the peak of flooding in the city.
“All residents of potential flood areas should collect valuable items, documents and immediately leave their homes,” it added.
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