Thousands of people have been evacuated from a flood-hit suburb of the Siberian city of Yakutsk as the overflowing river Lena threatened to engulf the town itself.
At least 3,500 people were evacuated from the suburb to the city centre, Russia's emergencies ministry announced late last night.
Explosives used to break up vast chunks of ice blocking the river downstream gave residents some respite yesterday, although the situation remained critical.
"If we manage to completely destroy the ice blocks in the zone, we can say with virtual certainty that Yakutsk will not be flooded," said a rescue services official. The flood waters slowed after dynamite succeeded in dislodging blocks of ice 50 kilometres downstream which had effectively dammed up the river.
But the 200,000 inhabitants of Yakutsk, capital of the Yakutiya region of eastern Siberia, feared the worst when water levels hit the 7.80-metre (25.5 feet) flood mark and continued rising despite the dynamiting efforts.
The emergencies ministry, cited by ITAR-TASS said the river had reached critical levels by 7 a.m. today (local time) after rising steadily between five and 7.5 centimetres an hour.
Military personnel and students spent yesterday reinforcing dykes along a seven-kilometre (4.3-mile) stretch of the river which would protect the city up to water levels of 9.5 metres.
Few people had left the city, but emergency workers started to evacuate residents on the outskirts.
AFP