Komsomolsk-on-Amur Suburb Flooded As Water Breaks Dam

KHABAROVSK, September 7 (RIA Novosti) – The Mendeleyev settlement, a suburb of the Far Eastern Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, was covered by 1.5 meters of water after a nearby dam had been destroyed on Saturday.

Russian First Deputy Emergency Sitautions Minister Sergei Shlyakov said 296 houses with over 900 inhabitants were inundated.

“The dam was destroyed at about 11:00 local time [midnight GMT] on Saturday. A powerful stream of water is coming. All children were evacuated immediately, adults are being evacuated now,” he said.

The settlement is home to 4,500 people, although only about a thousand of them are in the immediate danger, said Vasily Shikhalyov, a deputy chairman of the region’s government. Some 700 of them have already been taken to safety.

He said that those living on ground and second floors of apartment buildings were evacuated, while inhabitants of apartments on higher floors currently refuse to leave. “Water and food supplies have been organized for them,” Shikhalyov said.

Almost 16,000 people had already been evacuated and 98,800 people in Far Eastern regions affected by the ongoing flooding of the Amur River. In total there are about 45,000 people taking part in rescue work in flood-hit areas.