Russian City Urges Residents to Evacuate as Flood Waters Rise Quickly

Authorities in the Russian city of Orenburg have issued a mass evacuation order for thousands of residents as rapidly rising flood waters threaten the region. The historic deluge of melting snow has caused major rivers to burst their banks, forcing over 120,000 people from their homes in Russia’s Ural Mountains, Siberia, and Kazakhstan.

In Orenburg, a city of over half a million people located 1,200 km east of Moscow, the situation is dire. Water levels in the Ural river have risen more than 2 meters above dangerous levels, with water lapping at the windows of homes and pet dogs stranded on rooftops. The city’s mayor, Sergei Salmin, urged residents to gather their documents, medicine, and essential items and evacuate immediately.

Local resident Vyacheslav lamented the loss of his belongings as he sat in a motorboat, looking back at his partially submerged home. The deputy mayor of Orenburg reported that over 360 houses and nearly 1,000 plots of land had been flooded overnight, with more expected as the deluge reaches its peak.

In neighboring regions like Kurgan, the situation is no better. The village of Kaminskoye is being evacuated after a 1.4-meter rise in water levels overnight, with fears that the flood could reach the city of Kurgan in the coming days. The region is home to a key part of Russia’s military-industrial complex, but so far, there have been no reports of the factory being affected.

As the flood waters continue to rise, authorities are bracing for more evacuations and damage in other Russian regions in the coming weeks. The situation remains critical as communities struggle to cope with the aftermath of the historic deluge.