Russian Far East flooding

More flooding feared as waters rise in Russia’s Far East

Military reinforcements are rushing to the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia’s Far East over the risk of levees failing and submerging thousands of people in water.

RT,

12 September, 2013

The city’s flood defenses stretch over 5 kilometers long and are 8 meters high. They consist sandbags and earth, is next to the area which risks to be swept by fierce floodwaters.

The level of water in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has risen to 9 meters 13 centimeters, and is expected to reach its peak over the next few days.

“Every time the situation appears to be under control, it worsens, in many cases setting new records,” RT’s Lynsey Free reported from the city.

Some 3,000 people are being evacuated from the city. Ten temporary shelters have been established to accommodate them.

“It's not the same Amur [River] anymore, it’s almost an Amur sea, with its width ranging from 20 to 30 kilometers and over 1,000 kilometers in length,” said Yury Varakin, head of the emergency situations department at Russia’s Hydro-Meteorological Center.

The situation on the ground remains very tense, with the flooding affecting not only houses, but also farmlands. As a result, locals’ livelihoods have been hit hard by the flooding.

Essential food supplies have also been wiped out by the disaster.

Residents have already endured two months of intensive flooding, and there seems no end in sight.

Rescue workers are doing their job in extreme conditions: in the darkness, chest-deep in water. Over 45,000 people and 7,000 pieces of equipment are involved in tackling the crisis.

Nearly 100,000 people have been affected by the disaster, and up to 16,000 people have already been evacuated.

Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said Wednesday that Russia’s federal government is providing $360 million in aid to parts of the Far East devastated by the raging flash floods.

Satellite view of record floods inundating Russia’s Far East, 8 September 2013

NASA,

8 September, 2013

The extreme floods that have been threatening northeastern China and the Russian Far East are slowly moving north along the length of the Amur River. The bulge of flood water has now reached Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a Russian city of about 500,000 people. The flood overwhelmed a dam, and the resulting flood inundated 300 homes and put about 1,000 people at risk, according to local news reports. Flood waters on the river continue to rise, and an additional 36,000 people may have to be evacuated.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired the top false-color image of the swollen Amur River on September 8, 2013. The lower image, also from Aqua MODIS, shows the river on August 17, 2012, providing a view of normal water levels during the late summer.

The false-color images were made with short-wave and near-infrared light. Water is black; plant-covered land is green; clouds are pale blue and white; and burned land is red. The city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur is pale brown. The winding river channels and sponge-like appearance of the land around the river in the 2012 image indicates the presence of wetlands.

As of September 7, 2013, the Amur River had reached 8.71 meters (28.57 feet) in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and was rising 13-15 centimeters per day. The flood peaked downstream in Khabarovsk at a record 8.1 meters earlier in the week. The previous record high had been 6.42 meters (21.06 feet). To date, 2,300 buildings have been flooded in Russia. The floods farther downstream in China are affecting more than 5 million people.