Heavy flooding has caused a dam to burst on the Ural River in Russia. Thousands of people had to be brought to safety. Kazakhstan is also affected by the floods.
The time of snowmelt in spring causes river levels in Russia to rise almost every year. This year, however, the Ural River is carrying a particularly large amount of water. In some places the water level rose by four meters within a few hours.
In the city of Orsk in Russia’s Orenburg region – near the border with Kazakhstan – the sudden swelling of the Ural River led to the breach of a dam that was supposed to protect the people of Orsk from the Ural waters.
“We thought it would pass”
A resident in Orsk was completely surprised: “Yesterday we didn’t think it would happen like this. We thought it would somehow pass; we had hope. Then in the morning we woke up and saw that the water was already knee-high. “
News agency footage shows large-wheeled amphibious vehicles and trucks driving through streets that resemble small rivers. There are said to have been no deaths so far.
But: More than 2,500 houses were flooded. Rescue teams brought several thousand people to safety and evacuated 6,000 households, according to reports in Moscow.
Several rescue teams in action
Alexander Sitnikov, spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry for the Orenburg region, told reporters in Orsk: “The water quickly reached the old part of Orsk. There are mostly smaller house settlements here. They are being evacuated by employees of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and other rescue groups, including regional ones and municipal units. Behind me is a vehicle group from the Russian Emergencies Ministry from Perm working. The team is preparing boats for the departure of the residents.”
Meanwhile, the responsible public prosecutor’s office opened criminal proceedings for “negligence and violation of safety regulations for construction.” The reason is the dam burst in Orsk. According to the prosecutor’s office, the Orsk city administration was warned last month for a “violation of the legislation on the protection of the population and territories from natural and man-made emergencies.”
Kazakhstan is also affected by the high water levels in the Urals. President Kassim-Jomart Tokayev called the floods one of the worst natural disasters in Kazakhstan in the past 80 years.