(Reuters) – Water levels in the Tobol River around the town of Kurgan in Russia’s southern Urals have crossed the “dangerous level” threshold, state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday, citing local authorities.
The river in the city, which is the administrative center of the wider Kurgan region that straddles the Tobol River near the border with Kazakhstan, rose by 123 cm (four feet) in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, reaching 865 cm (28 feet), RIA reported.
In the center of Kurgan, evacuation sirens sounded every two hours, RIA reported, urging residents to flee to safety. Officials said the river reaches a “danger” level once it crosses 850 cm (27 feet).
More than 660 residential houses were flooded in the region on Wednesday morning, the RIA said, citing the Emergency Ministry.
Residents of 14 settlements in the Ishim district of the Tyumen region of southwestern Siberia were also evacuated on Wednesday due to threats from rising levels of the Ishim River, officials said.
Water levels in rivers in areas of Russia’s Urals and southwestern Siberian regions, as well as adjacent areas of Kazakhstan, are still rising rapidly, officials said.
The disaster was caused by the rapid melting of large snowfalls amid heavy rain, which swelled the tributaries of many of Europe’s largest rivers.
The total number of people evacuated from their homes rose to 200,000 on Tuesday, after the governor of Russia’s Tyumen region told residents of Ishim, a city of 65,000, that they should urgently leave.