- Orenburg, Russia, is facing severe flooding due to rising water levels.
- The city's mayor has urged residents to evacuate due to sirens.
- Flooding is expected to reach its peak on Friday, and it is expected to spread to neighboring regions.
In the last week, flooding has severely impacted Kazakhstan, leading to the evacuation of 100,000 people from their homes. Several rivers, including the Ural, Europe's third-largest, have burst their banks and caused what is described as the worst flooding in the region in 80 years.
A number of these rivers flow back and forth between Russia and Kazakhstan.
High seasonal temperatures have caused rapid melting of snow and ice, along with heavy rains exacerbating the situation. On Friday, the Ural River in Orenburg reached a height of 11.43 meters (37 feet). Authorities have reported evacuating more than 10,000 people from the area, with 11,700 homes flooded. Mayor Sergei Salmin has urged further mass evacuations in certain districts.
"Leave your homes immediately. The situation is critical, don't waste time!' he said on his Telegram channel, adding that the sirens being heard in the city were not an exercise.
With a population of half a million, the city lies approximately 1,500km (930 miles) southeast of Moscow.
Water levels in Orsk, located further east and upstream of Orenburg, have decreased. Last weekend, Orsk experienced severe flooding after a dam burst, sparking rare public protests against low compensation offers and perceived failures by local authorities to prevent the dam's collapse.
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