Achi news desk-
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia said on Saturday it had evacuated 4,000 people in the Orenburg region, in the southern Urals near Kazakhstan, due to flooding after a dam burst.
The emergency services had been working through the night after a dam burst in the city of Orsk, near the border with Kazakhstan. The Orenburg governor’s press service said “4,208 people, including 1,019 children” were evacuated and more than 2,500 homes were affected by the flooding after a dam burst on Friday following heavy rain.
Russia opened a criminal case for “negligence and violation of construction safety rules” over the burst dam, built in 2014. Orenburg regional governor Denis Pasler said experts assessed that the dam was built “for different pressures” and that the level at which the rainfall was “exceptional”.
Authorities said the situation was difficult across the region, warning of dangerous water levels on the Ural river in the capital Orenburg. The mayor of the city of half a million people, Sergei Salmin, said authorities would force people to leave flooded areas if they refused orders to leave.
He said that the water level of the Ural river has risen to 855 centimeters and “it will rise” further. He named several areas of the city and nearby villages that are likely to be affected. “The situation leaves you no choice. At night, the river can reach a critical level,” he said. “I am calling on everyone in the flooded zone to leave their houses immediately.
“There is no time to convince,” he added, saying “those who refuse to leave the danger zone voluntarily, we will force evacuation with the help of police officers”. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the flood was one of the worst natural disasters in Kazakhstan in 80 years. He called for authorities in the Central Asian country to be ready to help those affected.
Russian emergency services released images of rescue workers passing through villages on boats and hovercraft. Several regions in the Urals and western Siberia have been affected by floods since the beginning of spring.
