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Floods grip Kazakhstan and Russia as tributaries of Ob increase

Swathes of northern Kazakhstan and Russia's Urals area were flooded on Monday as melt waters swelled the tributaries of the world's. seventh longest river system, forcing more than 125,000 individuals. to flee their homes.

Russia's southern Ural region and northern Kazakhstan have. been coming to grips with the worst flooding in living memory after. very large snow falls melted quickly in the middle of heavy rain over land. currently waterlogged before winter season.

That has swelled the tributaries of the Ob, which increases in. the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia and clears into the. Arctic Ocean, beyond bursting point, leaving some cities in. Russia and Kazakhstan under water.

A reporter said numerous districts of the northern. Kazakh city of Petropavlovsk were totally flooded. The city. which sits on the Ishim River, a tributary of the Irtysh, the. chief tributary of the Ob.

Nearly 1,000 homes have been flooded in the North. Kazakhstan area of which Petropavlovsk is the centre, and over. 5,000 people have been left, regional officials said. There. have actually been disturbances in power and water system in the city.

People were marking time in front of water trucks moving from. one area to another in the city. The main reservoir. providing the city with drinkable water has actually been flooded.

Simply a couple of hundred kilometres over the border, Russia's. Kurgan, a region of 800,000 people at the confluence of the Ural. mountains and Siberia, was facing flooding and rising. water levels in the Tobol River, another tributary of the. Irtysh.

Water levels rose to 6.31 metres (over 20 feet) in the main. city, Kurgan. Governor Vadim Shumkov stated the main mass of water. was 10 km away from the city.

The volume of water is enormous, Shumkov stated. In. addition to the waters of the Tobol itself and melt water. pouring into it, there is 1.3 billion cubic metres of water. coming from Kazakhstan, which ... is twice as much as in 1994. ( when Kurgan was flooded for a month).

Fellow fellow citizens, leave the flooded areas immediately.

Shumkov alerted that flooding would begin quickly on the. right bank of the Tobol, which slices the area south to north,. and the low part of its left bank.

Floods were also swamping homes in the Tomsk region in the. southwestern part of Siberia, regional officials said on. Telegram.

Practically 140 homes near the city of Tomsk, which is the. local administrative centre, were under water on Monday and. 84 people were left.

The Ob-Irtysh river system is the world's seventh biggest,. after the Yellow River, the Yenisei, the Mississippi, the. Yangtze, the Amazon and the Nile.

Kazakhstan was also leaving settlements in its West. Kazakhstan region, anticipating fresh inflows of water in the Ural. river in the coming days.