MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Water levels, measured in the Urals River near the city of Orenburg, reached 1,115 centimeters (36 feet 7 inches) in the early hours of Friday, the local administration said.
"Ural River water levels near Orenburg on April 12 were as follows: midnight local time (7:00 p.m. GMT Thursday) - 1,103 cm (36 feet 2 inches), <…> 4:00 a.m. local time (11:00 p.m. GMT) - 1,115 centimeters," the statement says.
Waters continue to rise near Orenburg, the region’s administrative center, and subside in the flood-hit city of Orsk.
Orenburg Region Governor Denis Pasler told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on the flood situation that the water level in the Ural River in Orenburg has reached a record high of 1,087 cm on Thursday.
The spring flood in the Orenburg Region this year has become the strongest on record. As of the morning of April 11, almost 12,000 residential houses and about 15,000 household plots were flooded in the region. As many as 7,800 people were evacuated, including more than 2,100 children. A federal emergency has been declared in the Orenburg Region. Flood waters in Orenburg are expected to peak in the next 24 hours.