ALAMTY/APRIL 14 2024 (The Bulletin) — The Yesil River which runs through Petropavlovsk burst its banks as the worst flooding in generations continued to ravage north and west Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s emergencies ministry said that more than 111,000 people and 106,000 animals have now been evacuated since the flooding started in March. Several people have died.

Kassym Jomart Tokayev, the Kazakh president, has also warned of a potential second wave of flooding, caused mainly by a sharp rise in temperatures which melted tonnes of snow in the mountains and on the steppe faster than usual.

“The government and akimats should quickly solve the problems of accommodating the affected people and providing them with the necessary assistance,” he said. “The situation at the evacuation points should be constantly monitored.”

Rivers across north and west Kazakhstan, as well as in southern Russia, that drain huge areas have swollen and burst their banks. Dams have been breached. 

Mr Tokayev has been quick to blame regional leaders for failing to prepare for the floods and for not handing out aid and preparing accommodation speedily.

And reports from the west of the country have said that local anger is rising.  In the town of Qulsary, near Atyrau, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that people were demonstrating outside a local government building demanding compensation for the floods.

Demonstrators also said that they were worried about the spread of disease because floodwaters had churned up the decomposed bodies of people buried in shallow graves during Covid. 

Analysts have also warned that climate change may make mass flooding in Kazakhstan seasonal.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 564 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 15 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024