Photo : Collected
Over 4,000 people, including 885 children, have been evacuated from a flood-hit area of Russia's Orenburg Region, the local authorities said on Sunday (7 April).
"As many as 4,064 people were evacuated, including 885 children. Forty-seven bridge structures have been closed in 31 regional municipalities. Traffic on federal highways is proceeding without restrictions," the authorities said in a statement.
At the same time, no deaths related to the flooding have been recorded in the city of Orsk worst hit by the disaster, the mayor's office said, adding that the four people found dead in the area had passed away due to natural causes or suicide.
Over the past 24 hours, the water levels in the Ural River rose by 28 centimeters (11 inches), which resulted in the flooding of over 1,300 residential buildings and more than 1,700 house plots in the region's capital city of Orenburg, the mayor's office said.
Despite this fact, the situation is expected to improve in the region in the coming days as the total water inflow into a local water reservoir decreased over the past 24 hours, enabling a reduction in the volume of discharged water, the regional government said.
"This way we have to reach the plateau and pass the peak," the authorities said.
Russia's Orenburg Region faced flooding earlier in April due to meltwater, rising water levels in the Ural River and increased water discharges from a local water reservoir. Moreover, on Friday, a dam protecting the city of Orsk from the Ural River burst, resulting in the mass evacuation of local residents. On Saturday, a burst of the second embankment dam occurred in the city, causing the expansion of the flooding area.
Messenger/Mumu
