Photo copyrightDonat Sorokin/TASS
Photo caption: Railings and barriers had to be removed from one of the road bridges in Kurgan so that water could pass over it faster and not damage it
April 15, 2024
The capital of the Kurgan region in the south of the West Siberian Plain begins to be flooded by the Tobol River, which overflowed during the flood. On Monday morning the water level exceeded 6 meters. The day before, the regional governor stated that after this mark, flooding of the right bank of Kurgan and the low part of the left bank would begin.
By Monday afternoon (10:00 Moscow time), the water level in Tobol near Kurgan was 664 cm, city authorities reported. On Sunday morning, the water was at 491 cm. Thus, in one day the river rose by more than one and a half meters (and by 15 cm in two hours).
The day before, the governor of the Kurgan region, Vadim Shumkov, warned that a “very difficult situation” with rising water “is predicted for this night” and called on people to evacuate in advance.
“We need to leave before dark. Pack your relatives, documents, valuables and leave early. At night, the situation may change sharply in a negative direction, and you may not have time to react, Shumkov wrote in a telegram. “The water level near Kurgan is rising quickly and rapidly.”
The current of the Tobol is so rapid that the day before, two pedestrian bridges were carried away by water in the Kurgan region. “At six meters, flooding begins on the right bank of the Tobol and the low part of the left bank. The current is noticeably increasing. The water has flowed into the city,” Shumkov stated the day before.
At night, sirens began to wail in Kurgan. The higher the water level rises and the danger for citizens increases, the more often they will sound; the sound of the siren reminds people from the flood zone that they need to evacuate, the city administration said on this matter.
In the morning, the embankment in the central part of Kurgan, as well as the private sector, began to gradually flood. Water reached the pedestrian paths of the first tier of the embankment in the Pivzavod area, reports the Kurganistan telegram channel. The lighthouse on the embankment also began to go under water.
Photo copyrightDonat Sorokin/TASS
Photo caption, Police officers near the flooded Malo-Chausovsky Bridge
The Malo-Chausovsky Bridge began to go under water. This is one of four road bridges across the Tobol within Kurgan. Traffic along it was blocked a week ago, on April 8, when a state of emergency was declared in the Kurgan region due to floods. At the same time, workers removed the railings and barriers from the bridge so that the water, having risen above the level of the bridge, would not damage it and pass on horseback.
In the city center the day before, the movement of private cars was restricted on the bridge on the Tyunin Highway, under which there is a waterworks complex (that is, a dam). It was only possible to leave the city; they were not allowed back. The third bridge on Burova-Petrov Street and Kirovsky Bridge (also in the city center) operated without restrictions.
The situation with the bridges was complicated by debris and tree branches that get stuck under the base of the bridges and create additional water pressure. All Sunday, rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations tried to clear such a traffic jam under the central bridge at the waterworks.
Photo copyrightDonat Sorokin/TASS
Photo caption: Rescuers try to clear a blockage at a waterworks in Kurgan
Water has already crossed the bridge in the Maloye Chausovo microdistrict; residents need to evacuate immediately, authorities said.
In the village of Voronovka, located between the shore of Tobol and the Kurgan airport, evacuation posts were installed (local residents call them paths). They will only work on exits for those who refuse to evacuate. Rescuers, police and evacuation buses will be there, as well as heavy equipment to strengthen the embankment.
The day before, the governor published a conversation with residents of Kurgan in a telegram. “Guys, why don’t you leave?” – he asked, standing on a temporary dam overlooking the garden community. “Well, why leave, there’s not enough water?” – the elderly man answered him. “So there will be a lot of water – they promise nine meters,” Shumkov said. “As long as it takes, we’ll leave,” his interlocutor promised.
When asked whether there were many people like him, the man found it difficult to answer, but instead said that during the record floods of the 1990s, the water in his house was not too high.
Photo copyrightDonat Sorokin/TASS
Photo caption, Like in Orenburg, temporary water-filling dams are being installed in Kurgan, but local residents are in no hurry to evacuate
The day before, the acting governor announced that the water could rise from the current six-plus meters to nine meters or even higher. O. Head of the Kurgan Center for Hydrometeorology Natalya Astafieva. She said the maximum level would be nine to 10 meters 70 cm. This is higher than the 1994 maximum, she warned.
The Ural Federal Administration for Hydrometeorology on Monday clarified that the level is expected to exceed not only up to 700 cm, which is considered an unfavorable phenomenon, but also up to 850 cm – this is already a dangerous phenomenon.
In the next two days, flooding of residential buildings and private plots, including within the city limits, will continue in Kurgan and its environs, according to the forecast of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Kurgan is the second regional center of Russia that is struggling with the consequences of the flood. Over the weekend, for the first time since the flood began, the water level in the Ural River in Orenburg began to fall. In the private sector, more than 500 houses remain flooded.
In the city of Orsk, on the border of the Orenburg region with Kazakhstan, the water has already gone almost everywhere, and on Monday students went back to school. Orenburg authorities also reported that the water in the Ural River had risen to a record high of more than 11 meters.
Meanwhile, the levels of the Tom and Ob rivers exceeded dangerous levels in the Tomsk region, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reports. The dangerous levels were exceeded at two observation points, including in the area of the river station in the regional center – 761 cm with a dangerous level of 750 cm.
The Tom River in Tomsk overflowed its banks, washed out a road, and partially collapsed a dam. “The powerful flow of the river, due to a sharp bend, hits the flow-directing dam and washes it away. Experts assure that the concrete foundation of the bridge itself is deep underground and safe,” Tomsk Mayor Dmitry Makhinya wrote in a telegram.
The updated flood forecast in the Tyumen region also assumes a historical maximum rise in water levels in rivers, said Governor Alexander Moor. Authorities are considering forced evacuations in the flood zone.
In total, the number of flooded residential buildings in Russia increased to 15.6 thousand, personal plots – to almost 28 thousand, TASS reports, citing operational services.
