The Russian authorities announced the evacuation of 711 people, including 201 children, from the Old City area in the city of Orsk, amid the continuing rise in water levels in a flood caused by the collapse of a dam on the Ural River yesterday evening (Friday).
The Russian Emergencies Ministry said that it is using boats and all-terrain vehicles in the evacuation process and indicated that there are currently 242 people, including 73 children, in temporary shelters after being evacuated from the flooded areas in Orsk, which has a population of about 200,000 people and is the second largest city in the country. Orenburg Province, bordering Kazakhstan.
She noted that 3 bodies were found during patrols in the Old City of Orsk, two of them in the street and one inside a house. However, the death of two of them was not a result of drowning, according to preliminary information.
The Orsk Mayor's Office had announced that there had been a breach in the dam on the Ural River, which was protecting the city from flooding. News was circulating this morning about its complete collapse, but the authorities denied its authenticity, stressing that the talk was about a breach in only one location of the dam. It is several kilometers long, and specialists are working to restore it.
The Russian authorities stated that the water level in the Ural River reached 9.27 metres, which exceeds the danger level by two metres, and within a few hours the water level in some places rose by 4 meters and continues to rise.
Orsk Mayor Vasily Kozubica said that the situation is developing for the worse, explaining that there are 4,258 homes and 10,987 people in the flood zone throughout the Erwinburg district. Water has flooded 2,556 residential buildings and 6,886 household plots of land. 4,208 people have been evacuated, including 1,019 children, while 427 people reside in centers. Temporary accommodation, as previously reported by the Oritburg Governor's Office and the local government.
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