Protesters demand more financial aid
Moscow:
Russia warned on Monday of “unprecedented” flooding over the next 48 hours, as locals in a city partially submerged by rising waters took to the streets in a rare protest against the authorities’ handling of the crisis.
Rapidly melting ice and heavy rains have caused major rivers such as the Ural and Tobol rivers to swell near Russia’s border with Kazakhstan, and officials have warned that floodwaters will rise to dangerous heights in the next 48 hours.
The city of Orsk was submerged under meters of water after a dam burst over the weekend, and dozens of protesters on Monday protested against the government’s botched response in a rare show of dissent in Russia.
Video posted on local social media channels showed the crowd chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “Putin, help!”
The Kremlin said earlier on Monday that the Russian president had no plans to visit flooded areas.
Public demonstrations against the government are illegal in Russia under strict anti-protest laws.
The Orenburg District Prosecutor’s Office, which governs Orsk, explicitly warned residents on Monday that they would face arrest if they participated in “unauthorized” gatherings.
Protesters are demanding more financial aid and are angry that a dam designed to protect the city burst.
In a compensation plan unveiled over the weekend, local governments said they would pay up to 100,000 rubles ($1,100) per person for household items that were “completely destroyed” in the floods.
Orenburg’s governor said on Monday that he would fully compensate for the damage to his house, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
‘Don’t wait’
In Orsk, the worst-affected city so far, 99 people were being treated for injuries, including nine hospitalized, state media quoted health officials as saying.
More cities, including Orenburg, a regional center with a population of 550,000, will face soaring water levels in the coming days.
The governors of the neighboring regions of Kurgan and Tyumen each declared a state of emergency.
“The flood forecast is deteriorating rapidly, more water is coming, and faster,” Vadim Shumkov, the governor of the Kurgan region, posted on Telegram.
He called on people to evacuate while they still can.
“Everyone living in settlements along the floodplain of the Tobol River: evacuate. Do not wait for floods to come. Floods can come suddenly at night and come quickly in the form of large waves,” Shumkov said in a post on the Telegraph.
The regional capital, also known as Kurgan, is located on the river and has a population of 300,000.
Water levels were falling in Orsk on Monday, but in the city of Orenburg they were approaching dangerous levels.
The Kremlin called the situation “critical” and said it could “worse”.
“Nature has caused a lot of inconveniences. But local residents and local authorities are dealing with it stoically,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said hours before the protest in Orsk.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from flooded areas.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said on Monday that more than 10,000 residential buildings were flooded, mostly in the Urals, Volga region and western Siberia.
‘unprecedented’
Orenburg Mayor Sergei Salmin told Russian television that the city had “never seen so much water in decades.”
“The highest (water level) mark was in 1942. It was 946 centimeters,” Salmin said.
“There hasn’t been any flooding since. It’s unprecedented.”
Russia’s weather monitoring agency Rosgidromet said flooding in Orenburg was not expected to peak until Wednesday.
The Ural River flows through Orenburg into Kazakhstan, and Kazakh President Tokayev said the flooding was one of the country’s worst natural disasters in decades.
Emergency authorities also warned that the Irtysh River was “likely” to flood parts of Tobolsk, one of Russia’s oldest Siberian cities.
Putin has been an outspoken climate skeptic for much of his rule, and in recent years he has ordered the government to do more to prepare Russia for extreme weather events.
The country has experienced severe flooding and fires in recent spring and summer.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
