Due to spring snowmelt and continuous rainfall, some areas of Kazakhstan have experienced floods since March 2024. Kazakhstani leader Kasemjomart Tokayev stated on April 6th that Kazakhstan is currently experiencing the largest flooding in Mongolia in nearly 80 years. More than 60000 residents in the world are urgently retreating.
Similarly, due to continuous rainfall, a dam in Orenburg Oblast, which borders Russia and Kazakhstan, has burst, causing over 4000 residents to retreat. Russia has launched a criminal investigation into dam breaches.
According to a report by Effe News Agency, Kazakhstani leader Tokayev stated in a televised speech on Saturday that nearly two-thirds of the country has been hit by floods in Mongolia, and 10 out of 17 Kazakhstani states have declared a state of emergency.
Currently, Kazakhstan has not reported any casualties among its personnel. Tokayev stated that tens of thousands of relief workers are working in various areas to prevent casualties, and their main mission is to prevent any flash incidents of casualties. He stated that the government will create a compensation system as soon as possible to provide compensation for all affected populations.
According to statistics from the Kazakhstan Ministry of Emergency Situations on Sunday, nearly 64000 people have urgently evacuated across the country, including more than 15000 children. A large number of buildings have been engulfed in Aktobe Oblast, northern Kostanay Oblast, northeastern Pavlodar Oblast, central northern Akmora Oblast, southwestern Atyrau Oblast, and northern Kazakhstan Oblast.
Temporary shelters built in various regions have received 13000 people, and the Kazakhstan Ministry of Emergency Situations will transport 300 tons of humanitarian relief materials to the affected areas of Mongolia.
After floods occurred in many parts of Kazakhstan last month, Tokayev criticized the lack of coordination and coordination among local governments in disaster prevention. He also pointed out that some weather conditions were not properly warned due to a shortage of manpower.
Danara Alimbaeva, the head of Kazakhstan’s national weather forecasting agency, declined an interview earlier this month, stating that the agency has been warning of potential floods since December last year. Alimbaeva pointed out that the snowfall in Kazakhstan in the past winter has been higher than the average in previous years, and there has been a sudden increase in temperature since the beginning of spring. The large-scale melting of snow has provided a prerequisite for floods.
She also stated that since March this year, weather forecasting agencies have collected over 100 storm warnings from various governments and central governments in Kazakhstan.
In addition to Kazakhstan, the Russian Ural River basin adjacent to Kazakhstan is also under threat of floods.
On Friday evening, a dam burst in Orsk City, Orenburg Oblast, causing at least three people to die. 4208 local residents evacuated urgently, and more than 2400 homes were engulfed.
The broken dam was constructed in 2014, and the government of Orenburg has announced a criminal investigation into the matter. The investigators believe that the dam was constructed in accordance with safety regulations. The city of Orsk, which has a population of 230000, is located by the Ural River. The government has warned that with continuous rainfall, the Ural River level will continue to decline.
Due to rainfall and snowmelt, floods in parts of Kazakhstan and Russia are expected to continue until mid April. The weather forecast agency of Kazakhstan also warns that the country may experience low temperatures and drought in Mongolia this summer.