Russian City of Orenburg Calls for Mass Evacuation Due to Flooding

Authorities in the Russian city of Orenburg urged thousands of residents to evacuate immediately on Friday due to a rapid rise in floodwaters after the main rivers overflowed their banks due to a record flood caused by melting snow. Water levels also sharply increased in another Russian region, Kurgan. In neighboring Kazakhstan, authorities reported that 100,000 people have been evacuated so far as rapidly rising temperatures led to the melting of heavy snow and ice. Regional authorities called for a mass evacuation of parts of Orenburg, a city with more than half a million residents located 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow. Russian news agencies later reported that officials in Orenburg stated that over 13,000 residents had been evacuated across the region, with more than a quarter of them being children. Emergency workers noted that the water level in the Ural River had risen more than two meters above what they consider a dangerous level. Water flooded into the windows of brick and wooden houses in the city, and pets were seen sitting on the roofs of houses. Sergey Salmin, the mayor of Orenburg, advised residents to take their documents, medications, and essential supplies and leave their homes. Vadim Shumkov, the governor of the Kurgan region, stated via the Telegram app that the village of Kamenskoye in the region was also evacuated on Friday morning after water levels there increased by 1.4 meters overnight.