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Rising Rivers Force More Evacuations in Kazakhstan, Russia

By RFE/RL's Kazakh Service and RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities April 19, 2024

Water levels are still rising in rivers crossing Kazakhstan and Russia as floods continue to wreak havoc and force the evacuation of thousands from towns and cities.

Authorities in the West Kazakhstan region said on April 19 that the water level in the Oral River, which is known in neighboring Russia as the Ural, rose 28 centimeters overnight to 8.84 meters in the area close to the village of Yanvartsevo -- the first settlement on the Kazakh side of the border.

Yanvartsevo, home to some 1,200 people, is located 70 kilometers from the regional capital, Oral. Despite an official call to evacuate, most residents have remained in the village filling sand bags and reinforcing the river's banks along with military personnel and rescue teams from the Emergencies Ministry.

Regional government spokesman Erkhan Tatken said on April 19 that the high waters, which have been caused by abrupt warm weather that led to a massive snowmelt, are expected to reach the region from the adjacent Russian region of Orenburg sometime after April 22.

Tatken added that about 3,000 private houses in the region have been damaged by the floods and some 14,000 people have been evacuated. Kazakh officials have said that well over 100,000 people have been forced from their homes across the country because of heavy flooding.

A day earlier, Kazakh Deputy Interior Minister Marat Qozhaev said seven deaths had been confirmed and two people were missing because of the floods in Kazakhstan's northern regions, which began in late March.

Frustration over the preparations and response to the floods has boiled over in some parts of the country, with authorities meeting criticism with a heavy hand.

At least two people were handed jail terms of up to 10 days in early April on a charge of "spreading ungrounded information" over publicly accusing local governments in the Qostanai and Pavlodar regions for what they called a failure to properly deal with the floods.

In neighboring Russia, the situation is just as dire, with water levels in rivers continuing to rise in the regions bordering Kazakhstan.

As of April 19, the water level in the Ishim River in Russia's Tyumen region, which borders the North Kazakhstan region, reached 7.23 meters overnight, while 8.5 meters is considered to be the critical point.

The region's governor, Aleksandr Moor, called on the residents of several villages located close to the river to "evacuate immediately, before it is too late."

According to Moor, the region has not experienced floods of this scale since 1947.

Russian officials said on April 18 that the number of houses affected by the floods in the southern regions was about 18,000 in total.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/floods-kazakhstan-russia- evacuations-rising-rivers/32912552.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.