Flooding Crisis Hits Northern Kazakhstan

In northern Kazakhstan, flooding has submerged swathes of the city of Petropavlosk, where rescuers have carried out "preventive" evacuations the day before.

There is widespread flooding in the Russian Urals regions and neighboring Kazakhstan, caused by melting ice swelling rivers, exacerbated by heavy rainfall.

In some places, only the roofs of houses are visible above murky waters that have engulfed entire neighborhoods.

In Kazakhstan, more than 107,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, TASS state news agency reported.

In the capital of North Kazakhstan Region, Petropavl, the flooding is expected to peak within the next 24 hours.

Spring flooding is a regular occurrence but this year it is much more severe than usual.

Scientists agree that climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels is worsening the risk of extreme weather events such as floods.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said earlier this month that this was the country's worst natural disaster for the last 80 years.

The floods have already submerged 34,000 homes in Russia's southern Orenburg region, due to the rising Ural River.

The situation is now worsening in the Kurgan region further east.

Fresh rainfall was making the situation worse, Shumkov said, and the Tobol had risen 25 cm in two hours. But some were refusing to evacuate, he complained.

A resident of an affected district, blames insufficient funding by the authorities into flood prevention inspections and infrastructure which could have avoided the disaster.

The Russian emergency services ministry has predicted that more than 18,000 people could get flooded out in the Kurgan region, state news agency reported.