Record Floods Displace Over 110,000 in Russia and Kazakhstan

There have been severe floods affecting cities and towns in Russia and Kazakhstan since April 10,. The flooding was primarily caused by the melting of snow, which overwhelmed settlements in the Ural Mountains, Siberia, and certain areas of Kazakhstan. In Orenburg, a city with approximately 550,000 residents, about 1,200km east of Moscow, hundreds of homes were flooded, and over 7,700 people were evacuated. The Ural River, Europe's third-largest which flows into the Caspian Sea, burst through an embankment dam in Orsk on Friday, causing further flooding. Downstream, water levels in Orenburg were also rising, prompting immediate evacuation warnings and urgings from authorities. Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev described the flooding as potentially the biggest disaster in terms of scale and impact in over 80 years. In Russia's Orenburg region, nearly 13,000 residential buildings were flooded, forcing more than 7,700 people to evacuate. The Kremlin reported an unfavorable weather forecast for western Siberia, with peak flooding expected in the next three to five days. Over 110,000 people have been forced to evacuate in Russia and Kazakhstan due to the fast-melting snow and swelling Ural River. At least 12,000 people have been moved to safety in Russia.