Evacuations continue on Saturday in Russian regions of the Urals hit by major floods, which are also sweeping neighboring Kazakhstan where more than 100,000 people have been evacuated, with no respite in sight as water levels continue to rise. These floods are caused by heavy rains associated with rising temperatures, increased snowmelt and the breakup of winter ice covering rivers and streams.
The river level was close to 12 meters
In Orenburg, one of the most affected cities in the Russian region of the same name bordering Kazakhstan, the waters of the Ural River partially submerged some roads and flowed into residential areas, transforming neighborhoods into ponds. On Saturday afternoon, the river level was close to 12 meters, according to local authorities. This is well above the threshold considered critical, and it represents a further increase of around half a meter compared to the day before. The Urals flow through the center of Orenburg. “To date, the situation remains complicated. Currently in Orenburg, the flooding is at its maximum level,” regional governor Denis Pasler said on Saturday evening.
Nearly 14,000 people have already been evacuated from Orenburg and its surrounding areas and more than 11,000 homes are flooded, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Rescue workers and law enforcement continued to help residents leave their homes on Saturday. “The most important thing is that (the house) is not looted. That’s what worries me. Apart from that, everything is fine! We will survive!”, assured Valéri, optimistic, in his sixties, just evacuated. . Eldar Rakhmetov, an official at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, said he had noticed “an increase in the number of flooded houses since this morning, and more evacuations are being organized.”
“Traitorous water”
Further east, the Kurgan region is also likely to be flooded in the coming days. The level of the Tobol River continues to rise rapidly and more than 6,000 people have already been evacuated, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The governor, Vadim Choumkov, called on residents of the affected areas to leave their homes “preventively”, without waiting for the water to rise even further. “The water is treacherous, and with such a mass, its increase is unpredictable,” he warned on Telegram. “My compatriots from Kurgan, you must evacuate urgently. Urgently!” he later posted. Citing the authorities’ forecasts, he assured that a “sharp rise” in the water level was expected in the coming days, suggesting a “difficult situation”.
In Kazakhstan, which shares some 7,500 kilometers of border with Russia, the water reached the suburbs of the city of Petropavlosvk, capital of the North Kazakhstan region (220,000 inhabitants), partly deprived of electricity and water. drinkable. In total, in this immense Central Asian country, more than 102,000 people have been evacuated, including a third of them children, with nearly 4,000 homes already flooded and 73 localities cut off from the world, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
While the degree of influence of climate change remains to be determined, it is already established by scientists that global warming favors extreme weather events such as heavy precipitation causing flooding. Demonstrations, rare in Russia as repression is so strong, broke out on Monday in Orsk, in the Orenburg region, with residents protesting against the management of the crisis by local authorities. Despite these protests and the seriousness of the situation, no travel by President Vladimir Putin has yet been announced to these areas.