MOSCOW, July 12, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Heavy rainfall has flooded several
villages in Yakutia, in Russia's Far East region, authorities said on
Tuesday.
Yakutia has been badly affected in recent summers by extreme weather --
including wildfires and floods -- that scientists say is linked to climate
change.
Such extreme weather events are expected to become even more frequent, more
prolonged and more intense in the future.
The government of Yakutia said the rains had broken structures around a dam
and left a remote village in Siberia "almost entirely" flooded.
Dozens of people have had to leave their homes, it said.
"Due to heavy rains on July 11, despite the installation of protective
structures, a dam broke and flooded the village of Betenkes almost entirely,"
the Yakutia government wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The small village lies on the banks of the Adycha River in northeastern
Siberia.
"At 7:00 am this morning, the water level reached a critical 1,000
centimetres (33 feet)," the local government said.
It said 36 homes had been flooded and more than 100 plots of lands.
A dozen people were in temporary accommodation, while 72 others were
staying with relatives, it added.
The local government published photos of rescuers on a small boat leading
horses through the flooded village, surrounded by wooden houses deep in
water.
It also said authorities were working to bring supplies to other flooded
villages.
On Telegram it published a video of a propeller plane being loaded with
more than two tonnes of food for flood victims in the remote village of
Suordakh, in the western part of Yakutia.
The plane will then ferry elderly people and children from the village to
the regional capital, Yakutsk.
Flooding in recent days has damaged 85 houses in Suordakh, where 317 people
live, the authorities said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made comments earlier in his rule
suggesting scepticism about climate change but has in recent years ordered
his government to protect Russia from the effects of changing weather.
