Orenburg: The Russian government has said that a dam break near the Kazakhstan border caused flooding in the Orenburg region, affecting more than 4,000 people.
The governor’s office of Orenburg reported that 4,208 people, including 1,019 children, were evacuated and more than 2,500 homes were impacted by the floods. The dam gave way last day following heavy rainfall.
Governor Denis Pasler stated that the flood reached its peak. He added that the situation is particularly challenging in Orsk, a city located on the border with a population of 230,000. The authorities evacuated around 2,000 people from their homes in Orsk alone. Orsk is situated in the Orenburg region of the Ural mountains.
However, officials warned that the situation is difficult throughout the region and the water levels in the Ural River in the main city of Orenburg pose a threat to public safety.
The emergency services ministry released video footage showing residents receiving assistance into lifeboats while wearing life jackets. According to reports, thousands of homes were submerged due to a burst dam. In response to the incident, a criminal case for ‘negligence and violation of construction safety rules’ is opened in Russia. The dam was built in 2014, and the local prosecutor’s office noted that poor maintenance led to the dam’s breach.
At the beginning of spring, floods hit various regions in the Urals and western Siberia, as well as some parts of Kazakhstan. The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, commented that this flooding could potentially be the largest natural disaster the country faced in 80 years, in terms of both scale and impact. He emphasized the importance of learning from this event to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
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