MOSCOW, March 12 (Itar-Tass) — Spring floods in most parts of Russia are expected to be close to the norm or slightly lower, the head of the Russian Meteorological Service (Rosgidromet), Alexander Frolov, said in Moscow on Monday.
“The past winter is estimated as that with little snow, that is why the situation with spring floods differs a lot from that of last winter’s when stronger spring floods were fixed,” he reported.
According to the service, as of the beginning of March, the amount of winter snow was less than a norm in most drainage areas of the European part of Russia. For example, it was 81 to 85 percent of the norm in the drainage basin of the Volga River, and 53 and 45 percent respectively in the drainage basins of the Kama and Belaya rivers.
At the same time, there was more snow than the average norm in the black earth zone as well as in the Kaliningrad region and in Siberia. That is why strong spring floods are expected in the basins of Khopyor and Medveditsa rivers as well as in the drainage basin of the Don River. However, there is no direct correlation, Rosgidromet sources say. Forecasts for the Don River are quite encouraging, Frolov said.
“According to our forecasts, spring will come in the first decade of April,” he said, adding that temperatures are expected higher than norm in most Russia. That is why rivers will break up almost simultaneously. This process will begin in most regions as usual, only in the North Caucasus it will begin four to eight days later.
The most dangerous regions as to the spring flood situation are the Arkhangelsk region and part of the Kaliningrad region. Floods are forecasted in the Krasnoyarsk region, in Yakutia, in Chukotka and Kamchatka. Ice clogging is expected in the southern part of the Volga region.
Damage from spring floods at small rivers is nowadays higher than that from spring floods at big rivers because of insufficient attention from regional authorities, the head of the meteorological service warned.