Thousands of people at risk as floods hit Russia’s south
An aerial picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows the flooded part of the city of Orsk, Russia’s Orenburg region, southeast of the southern tip of the Ural Mountains. Russia said on April 8, 2024 that more than 10,000 residential buildings were flooded across the Urals, Volga area and western Siberia as emergency services evacuated cities threatened by rising rivers. On April 7, Russia declared a federal emergency in the Orenburg region, where the Ural river flooded much of the city of Orsk and is now reaching dangerous levels in the main city of Orenburg. Much of the city of Orsk has been flooded after torrential rain burst a nearby dam. (Photo by Anatoliy Zhdanov / Kommersant Photo / AFP) / Russia OUT (Photo by ANATOLIY ZHDANOV/Kommersant Photo/AFP via Getty Images)
Anatoliy Zhdanov | Afp | Getty Images
Floods are threatening Russia’s southern Kurgan region, putting more than 19,000 people’s lives at risk, the state news agency said on Tuesday, days after unprecedented flooding displaced thousands of people and inundated a city in the Ural region.
Citing the local branch of Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, TASS news agency reported that at least 4,000 homes could also be affected. Emergency measures were put in place in the region, it added.
Some of the worst floods in decades have hit a string of Russian regions in the Ural Mountains and Siberia, alongside parts of neighbouring Kazakhstan in recent days, after Europe’s third-longest river burst through a dam.
In the city of Orsk in the Orenburg region, angry residents asked President Vladimir Putin for help, complaining that their local officials had not done enough to help with the worst flooding on record.
The head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, flew to the region on Tuesday to monitor the situation after being tasked to do so by Putin, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
Kurenkov will also visit the…
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