Water level in Russian city of Orenburg keep rising

The situation in Russia's Orenburg, the capital city of the eponymous flooded region, remains critical, with the water level expected to keep rising in the coming days, Orenburg Mayor Sergey Salmin said on Sunday (7 April).

"The situation with the flooding remains critical. Water is coming, and in the next days, its level will only increase. Power outages will continue in the areas located in the flooding zone in the floodplains of the Ural and Sakmara rivers in the near future. If this happens, the need for an urgent evacuation will arise," the mayor said on Telegram.

Resource supplying companies are working intensively in the flooded areas of the Orenburg Region, the local government said in a statement.

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 regional 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.