The Kurgan and Tyumen regions of Russia, as well as parts of Kazakhstan, are at risk of some of the worst flooding in history.
Authorities in Russia are warning people to evacuate affected areas as Russia’s Kurgan and Tyumen regions and parts of northern Kazakhstan are flooded. Tens of thousands have already left their homes.
Flooding is expected to peak on Monday in Kurgan, a region of 800,000 people at the confluence of the Urals and Siberia, as the Tobol River swelled with meltwater and overflowed its banks, rising to 6.31 meters in the capital ( 20.7 feet) rose.
Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan are grappling with some of the worst flooding in living memory after very large snowfalls quickly melted amid heavy rain over land already inundated before winter.
Kurgan Governor Vadim Shumkov said almost a “sea” of water was approaching the area and new rains were making the situation worse.
“The city of Kurgan itself will be next,” Shumkov said.
“The flow of the Tobol is accelerating. The water level there is constantly rising,” he added, calling on his compatriots to “leave the flooded areas immediately.”
However, he said some refused to evacuate.
More than 7,100 people were evacuated from several hundred flooded residential buildings on Sunday, state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief, as water threatened 62 settlements and 4,300 homes.
The Kurgan and Tyumen regions are most at risk of flooding and measures are being taken to address these risks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
“Large waves of water are coming to the Kurgan region, the Tyumen region,” he told reporters.
“A lot of work has been done there, but we know the water is treacherous and so there is still a risk of large areas there being flooded.”
Water levels in the rivers of the Tyumen region could reach record levels, RIA reported, citing regional governor Aleksandr Moor.
Flooding elsewhere
In Kazakhstan, where more than 108,000 people have been evacuated since flooding began last month, water inundated more than 1,000 more homes in the city of Petropavlovsk on Sunday and forced the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said earlier this month that this was the country’s worst natural disaster in 80 years.
The Tobol, a tributary of the Irtysh, rose 23 cm (9 inches) in the four hours to 6 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Monday, regional authorities said.
Floods also inundated homes in the Tomsk region in the southwestern part of Siberia, regional officials said on Telegram.
Nearly 140 houses near the city of Tomsk, the regional administrative center, were under water on Monday and 84 people were evacuated.