Russia floods: 'Critical' mass evacuations ordered

Authorities in the southern Russian city of Orenburg and in nearby Kazakhstan have called on hundreds of thousands of residents to leave their homes in a mass evacuation amid the worst flooding ever recorded in the region.

Moscow declared a federal emergency last Sunday after the Ural River, the third-longest river in Europe, burst its banks in the southern Orenburg region, leaving much of the town of Orsk under water.

By Monday, more than 10,000 homes had been flooded, a figure which rose to over 12,000 on Friday as water levels in the Ural River rose to 11.43 meters (37.5 feet). Experts predict they could hit 11.6m by Saturday.

"This is not a drill," wrote Orenburg mayor Sergei Salmin on Telegram as sirens rang out across the city of 550,000, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) southeast of Moscow.

"A mass evacuation is taking place. These water levels are dangerous. The situation is critical. Don't waste time."

Drone footage from elsewhere in the region showed inundated towns and villages where only roofs were visible above masses of brown water.

Further east in western Siberia, the River Ishim, which crosses the Russia-Kazakhstan border near the Russian city of Omsk and the Kazakh capital Astana, is also rising and not expected to reach a peak until next week.

Spring floods are not uncommon in the region as melting snow from the Ural mountains swells river levels. But higher temperatures and heavy rain have produced the highest levels on record, surpassing the previous high of 9.4m back in 1942.

Residents: 'We're like Noah's Ark'

"Everything flooded, everything's lost, everything," resident Dmitry Dragoshantsev told Reuters news agency as he waded through the waist-high water that had ruined his home in Viktoriya, a hamlet just outside Orenburg.

Another resident, Vyacheslav, sat in a motorboat and surveyed his partially submerged, two-storey home. "Judging by the water levels, all the furniture, some household appliances and interior decorating materials will be ruined," he said. "It's going to cost a colossal amount of money."

Authorities in the Orenburg region had by Friday already received 200,000 applications for immediate assistance, but payments only range from 20,000 rubles (€201, $214) temporary cash to 50,000 rubles to compensate loss of property.

Meanwhile, a local animal shelter was trying to look after over 350 stray animals and pets abandoned by fleeing owners. "We're like Noah's Ark," shelter director Yulia Babenko told the Reuters news agency.

How has President Putin reacted?

Flooding may be common at this time of year but the extremity of the situation combined with the lack of coordinated rapid response from central government doesn't paint Russia in the best light.

Earlier the week, crowds of people in Orsk, one of the first and worst towns affected, chanted "Putin, help!"

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has thus far been conspicuous by his absence, just as he avoided engaging with domestic heating failures during winter and took several days to address the nation following the recent terror attack in Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov and his colleagues say Putin is being kept abreast of developments. Footage of Putin receiving reports from regional governors was made public but the president is yet to speak.

Blame game

In the meantime, Russian authorities appear to have been blaming each other.

Moscow's disaster management minister Alexander Kurenkov caused outraged when he told local broadcasters that residents had been warned a week before the floods and encouraged to evacuate. According to news agency dpa, reporting from the region, authorities had in fact played down the danger.

According to local media, when regional governor Denis Pasler was asked what responsibility he carries, he responded by suggesting that everyone is partly responsible.

In Orsk, a recently-built dam which was supposed to protect the town but which was breached at several points has become a point of contention, with the head of the dam construction firm reportedly claiming it had been weakened by rodents gnawing at it.

In Moscow, construction minister Irek Faizullin called the suggestion laughable and said the earth wall wasn't worth the one billion rubles (€10 million, $10.7 million) it reportedly cost.

"As far as I can see, you can't call that a dam," said Faizullin.

mf/wmr (AFP, Reuters, dpa)