KHABAROVSK, September 10. /TASS/. Waters of the Amur River near the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia’s Far East rose to more than eight meters as of Tuesday, exceeding the critical mark by almost two meters and partially eroding a protective dam, a city administration source told TASS.
"The level of the Amur River near the city reached 827 centimeters, with the critical mark being 650 centimeters. Waters rose by 12 centimeters in the past 24 hours," the source said. "Meteorologists expect a further increase of about 20-30 centimeters in the immediate future. After that, the water level will stabilize and start to gradually subside."
At the moment, 127 private houses, and 451 household plots remain flooded. Electricity supplies to 65 buildings have been suspended for security reasons. A total of 58 people are staying at temporary shelters.
The situation was made worse by the arrival of Typhoon Lingling, which brought torrential rains to the region overnight to Monday.
"Waters of the Silinka River rose sharply, causing a protective dam to give way," the source said, adding that the Silinsky Park recreation zone was flooded as a result.
Basements in 273 residential buildings, 30 schools and kindergartens, as well in an unknown number of medical facilities and shops, were also flooded. In some of them, water levels reached up to 1.5 meters.
Scientific Director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia Roman Vilfand told TASS that more floods are expected in the Khabarovsk Region on September 11-19, describing the situation as "fairly dangerous."
Situation in Khabarovsk
Meanwhile, situation in the regional capital Khabarovsk is slowly returning back to normal, with water levels subsiding below the critical mark of 600 centimeters, to 590 centimeters, the regional department of the Russian emergencies ministry said on Tuesday.
"The Amur River waters continue to subside. As of 08:00 local time on September 10 (1:00 Moscow time), the water level was 590 centimeters, dropping by 9 centimeters in the past 24 hours," the department said in a statement.
So far, 33 houses and 167 plots of land in Khabarovsk remain inundated.