Thousands evacuated as Kazakhstan and Russia battle huge floods

Thousands evacuated as Kazakhstan and Russia battle huge floods
by AFP Staff Writers
Astana, Kazakhstan (AFP) April 10, 2024

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from areas at risk of being submerged in water across Kazakhstan and Russia amid the worst flooding in decades, officials said Wednesday.

Fast-melting snow and ice has caused rivers that cross the two countries' border regions to surge, flooding cities and roads and prompting local evacuation orders.

"Since the start of the flood (last month), 96,472 people have been rescued and evacuated, including 31,640 children," Kazakhstan's Emergency Situations Ministry said Wednesday.

That figure was 10,000 higher than one it gave Tuesday.

It said 24,000 people were involved in "round-the-clock" rescue and clearance operations, including pumping away water, laying barriers and carrying out "blast work" to prevent "ice jams".

Forced evacuations were starting in the northern Kazakh city of Petropavlovsk, where a surge of water is expected to arrive over the next 48 hours.

"A huge flow of water is moving towards Petropavlovsk. Once again, I emphasise: huge," state media quoted regional head Gauez Nurmukhambetov as saying.

The flooding has hit areas across the northwest of Kazakhstan as well as the Orenburg, Tyumen and Kurgan regions of Russia, just across the border.

In the city of Orenburg, home to 550,000 people, officials said water levels in the Ural river had risen 81 centimetres over the last 24 hours.

The river depth stood at 978 centimetres on Wednesday morning, well above the "critical level" of 930 centimetres.

"According to expert forecasts, today it will rise again by another 30-70 centimetres," the city administration warned on Telegram.

Officials had warned earlier this week that Wednesday could see the peak of flooding in the city.

"All residents of potential flood areas should collect valuable items, documents and immediately leave their homes," it added.

Around 12,800 residential buildings in the Orenburg region had been flooded -- 1,900 in the city -- and more than 7,700 people had been evacuated, state media quoted officials as saying.

Dozens of locals had taken to the streets in the nearby city of Orsk in rare protest earlier this week, angry at the authorities' response.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin had no plans to visit the flooded areas, but was being constantly briefed on the situation.

Kazakhstan and Russia battle huge floods
Astana, Kazakhstan (AFP) April 9, 2024 - Water levels in overflowing rivers were still rising on Tuesday in swathes of Russia and Kazakhstan that have been hit by massive floods, with Russia's city of Orenburg and western Siberia bracing for a new peak.

Both Astana and Moscow have called the floods the worst in decades, introducing a state of emergency as water covered entire cities and villages.

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from the rising water -- mostly in Kazakhstan.

The Kremlin said the situation remains "difficult" in large parts of Russia but insisted that President Vladimir Putin has -- so far -- no plans to visit the zone.

The neighbours have pledged to cooperate on battling the floods.

"Since the beginning of the floods, more than 86,000 people have been rescued and evacuated," the Kazakh government said on Tuesday.

It said that 8,472 of the evacuees were in temporary housing, with the rest believed to be in safe places in the community.

Kazakhstan also said it had taken 81,000 animals to safety. Five of the massive Central Asian country's 17 regions were affected, with around six rivers rising fast.

Russia said it had evacuated more than 6,500 people, mostly in the Orenburg region.

The Ural and Tobol rivers were rising fast -- threatening the regional hub of Orenburg and the western Siberian city of Kurgan.

The Orenburg region has been the most hard-hit Russian area, with the Ural river already flooding the city of Orsk almost entirely.

Orenburg is a city of 550,000 people near the Kazakh border and was bracing for the peak of the flood, expected on Wednesday.

Its mayor Sergei Salmin said sirens were ringing out across the city .

"It is not an exercise. It is a sign that the flood situation in Orenburg is extremely dangerous," he said, calling on residents of several districts to "not waste time" and prepare for an evacuation "in the nearest hours."

He said the river had risen to 914 centimetres, with experts saying 930 centimetres was the tipping point maximum level the city could take.

Salmin has said the city had not seen floods like this since 1947.

Russian media published images of it approaching the city's high-rise apartment blocks.

- Western Siberia braces for floods -

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov visited the Orenburg and Kurgan regions, with his ministry publishing images of him flying over the flood zones, showing vast expanses of water stretching to the horizon and villages submerged.

Rivers were also swelling in Siberia's Kurgan and Tyumen regions.

Kurenkov then made his way to Kurgan, where he flew over a vast steppe showing a river getting wider.

In Kurgan, a city near Kazakhstan, authorities on Tuesday said that 689 people have been evacuated away from the overflowing Tobol river.

The mayoral office in Kurgan -- a city of around 300,000 people -- said the floods could reach the local airport.

In one village in the Kurgan region, Zverinogolovsk, the water levels of the Tobol river rose 74 centimetres in just two hours, Russian media reported.

Emergency services in Kurgan published a video of rescuers reaching villagers by boat.

- Putin 'not physically there' -

The Kremlin has said Putin has no plans to visit the zone but stressed that the floods are "at the centre of the president's attention".

The Russian leader has throughout his long rule shied away from difficult public meetings.

"Putin is not physically there but he is constantly in this topic," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"He works on these topics the whole day," he added, saying: "At the moment there is no plan for a trip to the region."

Small, rare protests erupted in flooded Orsk on Monday over the government's response to the disaster, with some residents calling on Putin to help with compensations.

Russia's exiled opposition slammed the official response and Putin's decision not to visit the affected zones.

"He doesn't even come to the place of the tragedy," Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said on X.