Military reinforcements are helping to combat flooding in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur region in Russia’s Far East as houses remain submerged and thousands displaced from their homes.
The city’s flood defenses stretch over 8 kilometers long and are
8 meters high, after the military strengthened seven water
control dams in populated areas.
The dams consist of sandbags and earth and have been placed to
divert water from areas at risk of being swept by fierce
floodwaters.
The water level in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has receded one
centimeter to 9 meters 10 centimeters, but there are fears this
could change.
“Every time the situation appears to be under control, it
worsens, in many cases setting new records,” RT’s Lyndsay
France reported from the city.
Some 3,000 people are being evacuated from the city. Ten
temporary shelters have been established to accommodate them.
“It's not the same Amur [River] anymore, it’s almost an Amur
sea, with its width ranging from 20 to 30 kilometers and over
1,000 kilometers in length,” said Yury Varakin, head of the
emergency situations department at Russia’s Hydro-Meteorological
Center.
The situation on the ground remains very tense, with the flooding
affecting not only houses, but also farmlands, doing considerable
economic damage.
Essential food supplies have also been wiped out by the disaster.
Residents have already endured two months of intensive flooding,
and there seems no end in sight.
Rescue workers are doing their job in extreme conditions: in the
darkness, chest-deep in water. Over 45,000 people and 7,000
pieces of equipment are involved in tackling the crisis.
Nearly 100,000 people have been affected by the disaster.
According to the latest Ministry of Emergency Situations figures,
97 villages remain flooded in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur region. Over
4000 houses are now submerged under water with 70 highways
flooded and over 80 bridges affected. So far the flood has
displaced 13, 600 people, 3,600 of which are children.
Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said Wednesday that Russia’s
federal government is providing $360 million in aid to parts of
the Far East devastated by the floods.