The flood unleashed by a poorly constructed dam in the Russian province of Orenburg, bordering northern Kazakhstan, has once again put the Russian political class in the spotlight. “People are not afraid of floods. We remember the times when Orsk suffered from floods because it did not have a dam. Now there is no such threat, this will be the first serious test of the resistance of our dam,” boasted the mayor of the city of Orsk, Vasili Kozupitsa, on April 3 on his Telegram channel in view of the forecast of rain. Two days later, on April 5, the infrastructure burst due to the flooding of the Ural River and left at least two dead, more than 4,000 people evacuated and 10,000 houses flooded, in addition to a city that now faces a shortage of drinking water and services. basics due to the slowness of the authorities. And the worst could be yet to come: a second dam has also broken and the regional government predicts that the water will reach the provincial capital, Orenburg, within three days.
About 200,000 people live in Orsk. The town's mayor announced this Monday that a second dam has been damaged and has urged residents of the Lesotorgovi district to leave their homes. “A failure has been detected in the integrity of its dam. Assessing his condition is impossible,” Kozupitsa admitted.
The first Orsk dam was built in 2014 at a cost of about 910 million rubles, more than 200 million euros at the then exchange rate. The company, Spetstroi-3, was even awarded by the locality. Now, the Russian Investigative Committee has opened criminal proceedings against its builders for negligence and violation of safety regulations that could lead to up to six years in prison between both crimes. According to this fiscal body, those responsible for the dam “repeatedly violated the requirements for its maintenance and adopted inappropriate measures to keep it in adequate technical conditions.”
The flood will reach Orenburg within three days, as the mayor of the regional capital, Sergei Salmin, warned this Monday. “There has never been a flood of this type, it is an unprecedented situation,” acknowledged the mayor, concerned about the looming challenge: “It has been a long time since we have seen so much water. The highest level was reached in 1942, with 946 centimeters [high].” On this occasion, the overflow has caused the Ural River to reach 963 centimeters.
The Russian Emergency Service has also warned of rising water in the regions of Orenburg, Kurgan and Tyumen, all located in the strip that divides Russia between Europe and Asia. In Kurgan province, located more than 500 kilometers northeast of Orenburg, at least 600 people have been evacuated so far and more than 10,000 houses could be flooded, according to local authorities.
Precisely, the management of the crisis has exposed the authorities. Russian President Vladimir Putin took at least three days to comment on the tragedy, while his Minister of Emergencies, Alexander Kurenkov, finally traveled to the affected area on Sunday. The head of state spoke this Monday with the governors of the affected provinces and ordered the creation of a special commission headed by Kurenkov, although this measure has not calmed the anger of the residents of Orenburg, whose indignation has increased after the minister discharged his own responsibility on them.
“The evacuation was announced a week ago. "People didn't make any decisions, they thought it was some kind of joke," Kurenkov said this Sunday on the Rossiya 24 television channel. The statements by the head of the emergency services have angered the residents of Orsk, who have recalled in the comments on the city's official channel that its mayor, less than a week ago, said that there was no threat. "Why do you lie? Why do they put all the blame on the people?” responded a citizen. “Where is the warning from a week ago written? “Everything is a lie,” stressed another. Added to the criticism for lack of prevention is that the authorities have promised very poor compensation to those affected: 20,000 rubles per person (about 200 euros) and between 50,000 and 100,000 rubles in case of losing their house (up to 1,000 euros).
Hundreds of people have protested in Orsk against what they consider official inaction, after the biggest floods in decades, according to the Reuters agency. “Putin, help!” or “Shame!” shouted those gathered in front of the town's Town Hall, according to the Ural56 portal. The governor of Orenburg, Denís Pásler, declared a state of emergency on April 4, although the first message urging the city to evacuate was not sent to the phones of its inhabitants until just two days ago, on April 6, as revealed by the Meduza
newspaper
.
With most of the country's resources focused on the invasion of Ukraine, Orsk's neighbors have found themselves helpless. Local media report that there is a shortage of food and drinking water, and the head of the regional Health Department, Tatiana Savinova, has recognized that it is necessary to find an alternative plan to treat the sick. “Patients must travel to Novotroitsk (about 20 kilometers from Orsk) and Orenburg (more than 250 kilometers). In these two hospitals only emergency medical care will be provided,” she said this Monday. Some local medical centers have been flooded, including a cancer clinic and a tuberculosis clinic.
A new oil refinery has also had to stop its activity in the middle of the Ukrainian campaign against Russian energy infrastructure. The ForteInvest company's refinery in Orsk, which produces six million tons of petroleum products per year, has temporarily suspended its activity "to avoid environmental risks and comply with safety regulations, mainly those related to occupational safety."
In addition, the Russian authorities declared this Monday a state of emergency in the Siberian regions of Kurgan and Tyumen, joining the Orenburg region, where this regime was declared on April 4. “We are implementing the emergency regime at the regional level,” the governor of the Kurgan region, Vadím Shumkov, reported on Telegram this Monday. The governor has pointed out that the situation “is unpredictable” and asked the population to immediately leave their homes and not take unnecessary risks. Hours earlier, the governor of the Tyumen region, Alexandr Moor, had made a similar announcement due to fear of floods.
The three Russian regions on alert border with Kazakhstan, a country where the floods were described on Saturday as the worst natural disaster in the country in the last 80 years, according to Kazakh President Kasim-Yomart Tokayev.
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