Russian authorities have called on residents of parts of the city of Kurgan in the Ural Mountains to evacuate their homes as the Tobol River has overflowed due to melting snow, with the result that large areas of Russia and Kazakhstan have been under water and tens of thousands of people have left their homes.

The southern Ural region, in Russia, and northern Kazakhstan are facing the worst flooding in decades after large amounts of snow melted suddenly, while heavy rainfall also occurred.

Flooding is expected to reach its peak today in the Kurgan region, home to 800,000 people, as the Tobol River flowing through the homonymous city reached 6.31 meters.

Kurgan governor Vadim Shumkov said “a sea” of water is approaching. “The city of Kurgan itself will be next,” Sumkov emphasized. “Tobol’s flow is accelerating. The water level is constantly rising.”

“My fellow citizens, leave the flooded areas immediately,” he stressed.

More than 7,100 people were evacuated on Sunday from several hundred flooded residential buildings, the RIA news agency reported, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry, as waters threaten 62 settlements and 4,300 homes.

In total, in the Kurgan region, almost 13,000 people have left their homes due to the floods.

In neighboring Kazakhstan more than 111,000 people have been displaced from their homes since the end of March when the floods started. Yesterday more than 1,000 more homes in the city of Petropavlovsk were under water, forcing another 4,500 people to evacuate.

The water level of the Tobol River rose by 23 centimeters in four hours early today, local authorities said.

There was also flooding in Tomsk province in southwestern Siberia, according to local officials. At least 140 houses in the town of the same name were under water today and 84 people were displaced.