Flood disaster in Russia: rivers continue to rise

Von NAG Redaktion

The tense flood situation in Russia in the southern Ural Mountains has continued to worsen. In the city of Orenburg, the Urals river reached a stand of 9.78 meters on Wednesday morning - above the critical brand. The city administration reported that several districts were under water. Experts predict a further increase in water by 30 to 70 centimeters.

In the Administrative area of ​​Orenburg on the Kazakh border, 12,800 houses and 14,900 garden plots were flooded, which forced over 7000 people to leave their houses. The massive influence of the water masses had to be switched off in some villages, which led to power failures. Courts hired their business while museums took measures to protect their artifacts.

The population expressed resentment that the authorities only slowly provided help. President Vladimir Putin reacted with the shipping of increased police patrols to prevent looting. In the region affected by the disaster, accompanied by strong snow melt and rainfall in the Ural Mountains, the water levels rose quickly.

The causes of the devastating flood are located in the strong snow and ice melt in the Ural Mountains, combined with precipitation and dam fractures at the city of Orsk. In addition to the Urals, other rivers in the region, about 1200 kilometers southeast of Moscow, have also swollen considerably. Kazakhstan also reported floods in adjacent areas and evacuated 96,000 people.