6 settlements partially flooded in Russian Yakutia

The Lena and Kolyma rivers that overflew their banks, have partially flooded six settlements in Russia’s Yakutia. Over 350 residential buildings in which 1,396 people live are partially flooded, the press service of the republican department of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations reports on Friday. Ice jams have raised water level in rivers. For example, the level of water is 800 centimeters near the settlement of Yedeitsy, Namsky district, well above the critical level of 550 centimeters. The flash flood has affected 201 residential buildings. Over 700 people have been evacuated and are staying at temporary accommodation stations or at their relatives. As of Friday morning, 106 houses are partially flooded in the town of Srednekolymsk, some of them to the window level, first deputy head of the district administration Ruslan Dobrolet said. He said the Kolyma River has been flooding the town for the second year running, and after the water subsides, wooden houses rot and fall into disrepair. Meanwhile, floating ice on the Kolyma River has to cover over 600 kilometers more to the estuary. An emergency situation regime has been imposed in Yakutsk, in the Namsk, Ust-Aldan, Olekminsk and Srednekolymsky districts of the republic. Almost 3,000 people assisted by about 760 units of hardware take part in flood protection efforts. On Thursday, Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov and an emergency team of the ministry flew to Yakutia. “The minister will assess the situation and will personally control flood protection work,” EMERCOM’s spokeswoman Irina Rossius told Tass.