Russian President Vladimir Putin today called on the residents of flood-affected Russian regions to heed calls for evacuation, as the waters in the Siberian Kurgan and Tyumen regions continue to rise, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
"Why don't people leave? They fear for their property and their homes. We need to convince them that everything will be protected," the Russian president said during a televised video conference with the governors of the affected regions, namely the Kurgan, Tyumen and Orenburg regions.
Several people interviewed by AFP over the past few days in Orenburg Oblast said they fear looting.
In the Kurgan region, more than 14,300 people have been evacuated from flooded areas, including 1,833 children, the governor of the region, Vadim Shumkov, said during the meeting with Putin.
According to Shumkov, in his region, through which the Tobol River passes, whose waters have been rising for several days, more than 3,000 houses in 25 settlements have been flooded.
Residents of the city of Kurgan itself, which has a population of around 300,000 and some neighborhoods of which are already flooded, were also urged to evacuate quickly.
"Take your children, disabled and elderly relatives with you and do not leave your pets in the risk zone /.../ Go! Don't wait for the water to approach your home," city officials warned in "Telegram".
For now, about 435 people have been evacuated from the neighboring Tyumen region, where the Ishim River is also rising. However, local authorities expect the situation to worsen in the coming days.
"We expect the tidal wave to come from the Kurgan region," and the water level could exceed by more than 2 meters the record reached in 2017, said the governor of the region, Alexander Moore.
In Orenburg, which has been at the epicenter of flooding for the past few days, the level of the Ural River has started to drop, but is still high at 1,099 cm, according to city officials.
Flooding in these Russian regions, as well as in neighboring Kazakhstan, was caused by intense rainfall combined with rising temperatures and increased melting of snow and ice. According to scientists, global warming favors extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, AFP points out.