More than 4,000 people have been evacuated in the Orenburg region after the Ural River overflowed
Russia’s government has declared flooding in the Orenburg region a federal emergency, state media has reported.
The floods, caused by rising water levels in the Ural River, forced more than 4,000 people, including 885 children, to evacuate, the regional government said. The state news agency Tass said that a further 2,000 homes were flooded, bringing the total to nearly 6,300 in the region.
Russia’s emergency situations minister, Alexander Kurenkov, arrived in Orsk – one of the hardest-hit cities – on Sunday to supervise rescue operations.
“I propose classifying the situation in the Orenburg region as a federal emergency and establishing a federal level of response,” the minister said, according to RIA Novosti, a state news agency.
