In Russia, thousands of people and animals were evacuated after the Orsk dam broke

International – City under water. This Saturday April 6 more than 4,000 people, including 1,000 children, were evacuated from a flooded area in Orsk, located in the Russian region of Orenburg in the Urals, following the failure of a dam. The incident occurred due to the rain during the snow melting period.

More than 2,500 homes have been flooded in this border region of Kazakhstan, regional governor Denis Basler said in a press release.

Emergency services on site use kayaks to evacuate civilians and animals, As seen in the video above the article. More than 500 specialists are already in Orsk, and reinforcements are expected to arrive soon, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.

The status of the Urals is on the verge of reaching a “critical” level

Evacuees were repatriated “Towards Temporary Accommodation Centers”Denise added Basler in a separate announcement and also announced exceptional financial support. “The situation in the old city is difficult”After some time he recognized the manager and judged him “The extent of substantial damage (…)”.

According to regional officials, the partially collapsed dam was designed to raise the Urals – the region's largest river – to a height of 5.5m, which is currently 9.6m.

In addition to the rain that fell over the weekend, regional officials blamed snowmelt. “climbing” Rivers in the area like “Riseon” In addition to flooding.

The water level of the Ural River will continue to rise, warned the mayor of the city of Orenburg, Sergey Chalmin. “ The level may reach a critical threshold »He added that Everyone should evacuate immediately from houses in the flood zone Before use “Strength”.

A “natural disaster” in neighboring Kazakhstan

Local authorities, anticipating the devastation, asked residents to evacuate several streets on Thursday, TASS reported. For its part, the regional prosecutor's office pointed out that“A Warning” In this regard, it was already submitted to the Orsk Town Hall in March “Violation of the Law on the Protection of Population and Territories against Natural and Man-Made Emergencies”.

The floods also affect Kazakhstan, which borders Russia. In an address to the nation, its president Kassim-Jomart Dogaev spoke on Saturday “A Natural Disaster”, “In the last 80 years, the biggest in terms of scale and impact”.

“The situation is difficult, but we must not despair”He declared and promised“Due to floods, local emergencies have been declared in ten regions of the country”.

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