Districts in Kazakhstan along the lower reaches of the Ural River are bracing for the level of water to reach the maximum today, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Kazakhstan declared a nationwide state of emergency, diverted funding for rescue efforts, evacuated more than 100,000 people and said 16,000 tons of oil production had been lost so far.
Aerial footage shows huge areas under water and some homes flooded to their roofs.
Workers and volunteers in the cities of Oral and Aterau are building levees and barriers to protect residential, agricultural and industrial areas from flooding.
The energy ministry said walls 2 to 2.5 meters high had been built around the Aterau oil refinery, which is close to the river, although authorities did not rule out the possibility that its work could be interrupted. Officials said sufficient fuel stocks had been built up across the country.
Meanwhile in Russia, the governor of the Tyumen region said yesterday that up to 100 villages are expected to be flooded in the coming days. The water level continues to rise in the Tobol River and the Ob River in the Kurgan and Tomsk regions, respectively, local authorities announced today.
In the city of Kurgan, the water level of the Tobol River reached 9.77 meters today, the local administration said, urging residents to evacuate areas threatened by flooding.
Agency "Interfax" quotes the governor of the Tomsk region, according to whom the water level of the Ob River has exceeded the dangerous limit in parts of the region, but the Tom River falls into its tributary.
The disaster was caused by unusually fast-melting heavy snow amid heavy rainfall, according to Reuters. A senior Putin ally said this week that regional authorities had not done a good job of predicting and responding to the emergency.