Moscow: In the Kurgan region of southern Russia, where the governor forecast a “very difficult situation” in the next few hours, floodwaters on Sunday threatened to engulf thousands more homes.
The melting of ice has led rivers to overflow, causing extensive flooding in the Russian Urals areas and neighboring Kazakhstan. The situation has been made worse by heavy rainfall.
The TASS state news agency said that about 40,000 dwellings in Russia were flooded, while more than 107,000 residents in Kazakhstan have had to leave their homes.
Although spring flooding is common, it is somewhat worse than typical this year. This month, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared that it was the worst natural disaster to hit the nation in the previous 80 years.
Because of the surging Ural River, 34,000 dwellings in the southern Orenburg area of Russia have already been flooded.
In the regional center of Orenburg, journalists on Saturday witnessed inhabitants being evacuated in boats and police cars. Further east, in the Kurgan region, things are becoming worse.
There, Governor Vadim Shumkov declared that “a very complex situation with rising water is forecast for tonight” as the River Tobol’s level rapidly rose. Shumkov stated that the situation was getting worse due to recent rainfall, and the Tobol had only risen 25 cm (10 inches) in the last two hours. But, he lamented, some people were refusing to leave.
According to state news agency RIA Novosti, the Russian emergency services ministry has estimated that over 18,000 people may be washed out of the Kurgan region.
