Tuesday 11 / February / 2025
Moscow: The spring flooding that has hit the Russian region around Orenburg - some 1,200 kilometres to the south-east of Moscow - has passed its peak, local authorities in the region reported on Sunday.
Water has begun draining from more than 1,500 homes and 1,400 gardens, the regional administration said.
Water levels in the Ural River have fallen sharply in the city of Orsk, near the border with Kazakhstan. The city was hit by flooding some 10 days ago.
In the regional capital of Orenburg, also on the Ural, levels reached a peak of 11.87 metres last Saturday, almost 2.5 metres above the critical level. A slight decline of some five centimetres was recorded today in the city of around half a million residents.
Water levels on the Tobol river in Siberia’s Kurgan region were continuing to rise, however.
The spring floods in the region have been more marked than usual this year after heavy winter snowfall. Kazakhstan to the south has also been badly hit.
Damage to homes in the region has affected hundreds of thousands of people, with the authorities reporting the evacuation of 16,500 people up to today, according to the Russian TASS news agency. -ONA
