Proceedings initiated

Dam burst: Thousands of Russians evacuated after flooding

Thousands of people in the Orenburg region southwest of the Ural Mountains had to be evacuated due to severe flooding and a dam burst.(Bild: APA/AFP/Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout)

After a dam burst and caused flooding in the Russian region of Orenburg in the Urals, thousands of people have been evacuated to safety. The public prosecutor's office has already initiated criminal proceedings for negligence.

More than 2400 houses were flooded. In the city of Orsk alone, more than 2,000 people were evacuated to safety, and other towns in the region were also evacuated by the civil defense.

Two dead found in old town
Two dead bodies were found during an inspection of the flooded old town of Orsk. The cause of death is not yet known, according to official information the victims did not drown. The authorities have denied media reports of further deaths.

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Dozens of defects found recently
The public prosecutor's office has initiated criminal proceedings for negligence in connection with the flooding. The background to this could be an inspection of the dam by the technical supervisory authority Rostechnadsor in 2020. This identified 38 defects and ordered them to be rectified. It is unclear whether this has happened.

At midday on Saturday, the mayor's office of the regional capital Orenburg, further to the west, also sounded the alarm. The Ural River there is said to have already reached a water level of 8.55 meters and to be rising rapidly. The situation is critical, said Mayor Sergei Salmin and called on citizens to evacuate.