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State of emergency introduced in Altai Krai over long drought

More than 576 thousand hectares of crops have been destroyed by the heat and drought in the Altai Territory

BARNAUL, July 26 (Itar-Tass) — The Altai Territory has introduced a state of emergency due to the prolonged drought in the region, Altai Krai governor Alexander Karlin said at a meeting at the territorial administration on Thursday.

“Adverse weather conditions have formed for all crops. In June, during 28 days the air temperatures kept above 25 degrees Celsius. The whole July the daily temperature exceeded 30 degrees,” Karlin said. According to him, 34 districts of the territory have faced the most difficult situation. The fifth - highest fire danger degree was recorded in 14 districts of the Altai Territory.

More than 576 thousand hectares of crops have been destroyed by the heat and drought in the Altai Territory. The damage has reached more than 3 billion roubles. Farmers have urgently planted additional forage crops in their place, which resulted in unexpected expenses. “This year was the soil and air drought go together,” said the head of the regional agricultural management department, Alexander Chabotayev.

The anomalous heat wave in July affected most regions of Siberia. Power engineers, foresters, farmers are seriously concerned over natural disasters - drought, shallowing of rivers, forest fires and grassland fires caused by the hot dry weather. According to the weather forecasters, the heat wave is caused by a stable anticyclone that formed over Siberia at the end of May. The anticyclone has not moved there for several months. A similar weather situation was observed in the Moscow Region in the summer of 2010, which the residents of the RF capital remember for hot air and smoke from wildfires.

“The last two years, a blocking ridge affected the European part Russia, but this year it moved to the south of Western Siberia,” spokesperson for the West-Siberian meteorological centre Renad Yagudin said. According to weather forecasts, the third decade of July will also be warmer than usual by 2-4 degrees. The end of July and August in Siberia is expected to be affected by a dry and hot weather.