A state of emergency has been declared in parts of Kazakhstan after large-scale flooding forced the evacuation of nearly 16,000 people. The floods were caused by abrupt warm weather that led to a mass snowmelt.
Massive Flooding Inundates Kazakhstan, Forcing Thousands From Homes
A truck drives through a flooded street in the city of Aqtobe. Officials said the massive floods were triggered by an abrupt period of warm weather that led to a huge snowmelt.
Military personnel make sandbags in western Kazakhstan to help contain floodwaters. Kazakh Deputy Emergency Minister Bauyrzhan Syzdyqov said on April 2 that almost 16,000 people, including more than 6,000 children, have been evacuated across the nation.
Military personnel and more than 400 pieces of equipment are participating in measures to contain the floodwaters.
On April 1, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev officially reprimanded regional governors and the cabinet for "dealing poorly" with the situation and called on the Central Asian nation's businesspeople to contribute to the rescue efforts.
A villager captured this photo in Bersiev in the Oiyl district of Kazakhstan's Aqtobe region, where many homes were flooded.
In the spring, settlements in Kazakhstan's eastern, western, and central regions are inundated almost annually as the snow melts.
A villager clears muck near his home in Koyandy, a village some 20 kilometers northeast of the nation's capital, Astana.
Residents of Koyandy took to the streets and barricaded the roads, furious at the authorities' inability to prepare for the seasonal floods.
A woman struggles to make her way in Koyandy.
Six protesters in the village were fined by the authorities for "participating in an illegal rally."
Further south of the nation's capital, a resident of Aqtobe prepares a rubber boat to reach his flooded house on the banks of the Elek River.
Dmitry, whose house was flooded, is afraid of thieves and refuses to leave his property.
Women who were displaced by the flooding in Aqtobe rest at a gym that is now being used as an evacuation center.
"I repaired my poor house [damaged in 2017 flooding] myself," said Karima Isagulova, who is now demanding that authorities reimburse her for the latest flood damage.
A woman sleeps on the gym's hardwood floors.
Officials said the situation remains "complicated" in several regions, where floodwaters continue to rise. This year's flooding exceeds the scale of the 2012 and 2017 floods, which were considered the largest in 30 years.