On Sunday, the 7th of April, two towns in Russia’s Ural Mountains were flooded after Europe’s third longest river burst its dam, submerging at least 10 000 homes and forcing people to evacuate, marking some of the worst flooding in decades in the Ural Mountains and Siberian regions, as well as parts of neighbouring Kazakhstan, reports Reuters.
Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said on Saturday that the floods were the country’s worst natural disaster in 80 years.
The Ural River, which flows from the Ural Mountains into the Caspian Sea, experienced a sharp rise in water levels on Friday due to snowmelt, resulting in the breaching of a dam embankment in Orsk. Orsk Mayor Vasily Kozupitsa reported that another river in the city had also overflowed.
According to local authorities, more than 6 100 people have already been evacuated from the city of 230 000 people. Fifteen out of 40 schools were flooded. Six adults and three children have reportedly been hospitalised in Orsk, but their condition is not life-threatening.
#Watch | Flooding in Russia’s Urals force thousands to evacuate
Flood waters were rising in two cities in Russia’s Ural mountains on April 7 after Europe’s third longest river burst through a dam, flooding at least 6,000 homes and forcing thousands of people to flee with just… pic.twitter.com/bGlHNpxEpS
— DD News (@DDNewslive) April 8, 2024
Media agencies quoted authorities as saying that the Samara River in the town of Buzuluk, further west in the Orenburg region, was also rising rapidly.
The Kremlin said on Sunday that flooding was expected in the Ural region of Kurgan and the Siberian region of Tyumen.
In the city of Kurgan, which has 310 000 inhabitants, the authorities ordered an urgent evacuation of the riverside area. Denis Pasler, Governor of the Orenburg Region, described
the flooding as the worst in the region to date.
He said that flooding had been recorded along the entire 2 400 km length of the Ural River, which flows through the Orenburg region and on through Kazakhstan into the Caspian Sea.
Russian media report that water continues to rise in Orenburg region, Russia. They warn that the flood may come to Kurgan and Tyumen regions, as well.
The dam in Orsk was built 10 years ago and cost almost a billion rubles. Already during construction, there have been issues… https://t.co/gbYm9CNA8V pic.twitter.com/wtPHFvkZ1W
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 7, 2024
4/4 #Russia #Russie #UkraineWar
▪️A state of emergency is being introduced in the Orenburg region, the peak of the flood is expected on April 10
▪️Overnight, the water in the Ural River rose to 11 meters
▪️2 neighboring villages – Nickel and Stroitiel — were flooded #rosja pic.twitter.com/HRXSptGcQl
— | (@tweetforAnna) April 7, 2024
Russian media quoted the Orenburg regional authorities as estimating that the cost of the flood damage locally is around 21 billion roubles (210 million euros) and that the flood waters will only dissipate after the 20th of April.
“The water is coming, and its level will only rise in the coming days,”
said Orenburg Mayor Sergei Salmin.
Emergency Situations Minister Kurenkov stressed the urgent need for bottled water and mobile treatment plants in flooded areas, while local health officials carried out hepatitis A vaccinations.
The unexpected rise of the Ural River to 9.6 metres, exceeding the dam’s designed capacity (5.5 metres), led to a federal investigation and a criminal case for negligence in relation to the dam’s construction in 2010.
The floods caused the Orsk oil refinery, which processed 4.5 million tonnes of oil last year, to shut down operations.
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