Over 1,500 Kazakhstanis evacuated since start of high-water season

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM – Over 1,500 people have been evacuated across Kazakhstan since the onset of high-water season, Emergencies Minister Yuri Ilyin said Thursday, Kazinform correspondent reports.

While addressing the plenary session of the Senate, Minister Ilyin revealed that 192 residential houses and 3 social facilities had been flooded in 11 settlements countrywide since the start of the high-water period.

In his words, despite many areas were exposed to large-scale flooding, local residents have been warned timely and its aftermath has been liquidated in full. No fatalities were reported, the minister added.

Nationwide, a total of 1,595 people were evacuated as a result of flooding. Of these, 1,580 have already returned to their homes.

According to Minister Ilyin, 2,285 emergency workers worked tirelessly to pump out over 2,000 square meters of melt water with the help of 778 units of equipment.

Presently the ministry monitors situation in West Kazakhstan region due to a dam washout in the Orenburg Region of the Russian Federation.