2024-04-13 01:34:38
At least 100,000 evacuated from both sides because of the raging water
Floods not seen in decades inundated parts of Russia and Kazakhstan after Europe’s third-longest river, the Urals, burst its banks, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate in the two countries.
The river, which flows from Russia’s Ural Mountains through Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea, swelled this week from melting snow, flooding dozens of towns along the border.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the flood “may be the biggest disaster in terms of its scale and impact in more than 80 years”.
In Russia’s Orenburg region, nearly 13,000 residential buildings were flooded, forcing more than 10,000 people to evacuate, local authorities said. The Ural River reached a level of 11.43m in the Russian city of Orenburg on Friday.
“Leave your homes immediately. The situation is critical, don’t waste time!”, Mayor Sergey Salmin warned.
Moscow is also worried about what is happening.
“The forecast is unfavorable
Water levels continue to rise in flood zones, large amounts of water are coming into new regions. The situation is very, very tense,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that despite the crisis, Vladimir Putin has no plans to visit the flooded regions, as local authorities are carrying out “intensive work” and “the population is being provided with all the necessary assistance.”
Residents of the affected areas have repeatedly called on the president for assistance. Video posted on social media showed hundreds of protesters gathering outside the town hall in Orsk, Orenburg, chanting: “Shame! Shame!” and “Putin, help!”. Other footage shows demonstrators accusing the state of doing nothing and criticizing local authorities.
In Western Siberia, the world’s largest hydrocarbon basin, peak flooding is expected in three to five days, as well as in some areas around the Volga, Europe’s largest river, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.
The floods threaten a whole part from North Kazakhstan
and many dams and reservoirs there are full to capacity. South of the border, more than 96,000 people have been evacuated to Kazakhstan, the government said in a statement. Nearly 3,000 people have been airlifted from affected regions and more than 7,600 are in temporary accommodation. Over 8.5 million tons of meltwater was pumped out.
Experts have long warned that rising temperatures could increase the frequency of extreme weather events and that Russia should have a big role to play in the fight against climate change.