MOSCOW (AP) – The Russian government has declared the situation in flood-hit areas in the Orenburg region a federal emergency, state media reported.
According to the local government, more than 4,000 people, including 885 children, were forced to evacuate due to flooding caused by rising water levels on the Ural River. State news agency TASS said another 2,000 homes were flooded in the area, bringing the total to nearly 6,300.
Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Klenkov arrived in Orsk, one of the worst-hit cities, on Sunday to oversee rescue operations.
“We propose to classify the situation in the Orenburg region as a federal emergency and establish a federal response,” the minister said, according to RIA Novosti news agency.
Orsk, less than 20 kilometers north of the border with Kazakhstan, bore the brunt of the floods that caused a dam burst on Friday, according to Orsk Mayor Vasily Kozpitsa. By Sunday morning, 4,500 homes in the city of 200,000 had been flooded and evacuation efforts were still ongoing, Tass said.
Thousands evacuated after dam burst floods in Russia’s Orskhttps://t.co/zV96V48j8M
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A criminal investigation has been launched into possible construction violations that may have caused the dam to collapse. Local authorities said the dam could withstand water levels of up to 5.5 meters (about 18 feet). On Saturday morning, the water level reached about 9.3 meters (30.51 feet) and was rising, Kozpitza said. On Sunday, the water level in Orsk reached 9.7 meters (31.82 feet), according to Russian water level information site All Rivers.
Orsk authorities reported four people dead, but said their deaths were unrelated to the flooding.
Officials in the regional capital (also called Orenburg), about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Orsk, told the Sunday Telegram that water levels had risen by 28 centimeters (11.02 inches) compared to before, and the situation in the city was dire. “It’s getting worse,” he wrote. Until the day before. More than 1,300 homes were flooded and 428 people were evacuated.
Images from Orsk and Orenburg showed streets dotted with one-story houses covered in water.
The Ural River is approximately 2,428 kilometers (1,509 miles) long and flows from the southern Ural Mountains through Russia and Kazakhstan to the northern tip of the Caspian Sea.
