Orenburg : Floods engulfed cities and towns across Russia and Kazakhstan on Wednesday after Europe’s third-longest river burst its banks, forcing about 110,000 people to evacuate and swamping parts of the Russian city of Orenburg.
The deluge of meltwater overwhelmed scores of settlements in Russia’s Ural Mountains, Siberia, Volga and areas of Kazakhstan after major rivers such as the Ural, which flows into the Caspian, rose more 70 cm (2 feet 3 inches) beyond its bursting point to over 10 metres (33 feet).
In Orenburg, a city with a population of 550,000 about 1,200 km (750 miles) east of Moscow, hundreds of homes were flooded and at least 7,700 people were evacuated as the Ural river rose swiftly beyond critical levels.
Whole areas of the city were under water. Residents in Orenburg paddled along roads that now resembled rivers and waters lapped at the windows of traditional wooden houses.
Russian news agencies quoted the Emergencies Ministry as saying 35 tonnes of aid – food, medicine and other necessities – had been flown into the region.
In Kurgan, a region which straddles the Tobol river, 4,500 people were evacuated and fears grew that thousands – or even tens of thousands – more would need to evacuate. Sirens in Kurgan warned people to evacuate immediately.
Residents in Orenburg said it was the worst flooding in living memory while Russian officials said it was the worst flooding in the area since records began. Kazakhstan said more than 97,000 people had been evacuated.
Russia said 10,500 houses were flooded across 37 regions, most in the Orenburg region. Upstream on the Ural, which flows into Kazakhstan, floodwaters burst through an embankment dam in the city of Orsk on Friday.