Dam collapse in flood-hit eastern Russia forces hundreds more evacuations
Some 300 houses were inundated after floodwaters destroyed a dam in the Mendeleyev settlement, a suburb of the Far Eastern Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, officials said.
“The dam was destroyed at about 11:00 local time [midnight GMT] on Saturday. A powerful stream of water is coming. All children were evacuated immediately, adults are being evacuated now,” said a senior Russian official.
Statistics for Flooded Areas in Far East Russia. Data: Emergencies Ministry – gis.waterinfo.ru – Via RiaNovosti. Compiled by FIRE-EARTH.
The settlement is home to 4,500 people, however only about a thousand residents are in the immediate danger, of whom 700 have been evacuated, said a local official.
The authorities have evacuated a total of more than 16,000 people
Severe flooding in the Amur River has affected 100,000 people in Far Eastern regions, forcing the authorities to evacuate a total of about 30,000 people since late July.
The government declared a state of emergency in August, and some 45,000 people were mobilized for the rescue work in flood-hit areas, said the report.
The devastating floods are the worst in the 120-year history of meteorological records in the region, officials said.