By Dmitri Chirciu
MOSCOW (AA) - Russian authorities said that the number of homes submerged due to floods in Russia has surpassed 15,000, according to state media reports on Monday.
Officials from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry told state news agency TASS that 193 settlements in 33 regions of the country were affected by river floods.
The tally of submerged houses now stands at 15,641, with over 4,000 gardens also affected by the flooding.
A statement from the Kurgan Municipality said that flood water was advancing towards the city, prompting calls for evacuation of citizens.
It was reported that evacuations have begun in eight settlements in the Tyumen region, where a state of emergency was declared due to the threat of flooding.
Tyumen Region Governor Aleksandr Moor stated that the water level in the Ishim River could reach 10 meters.
More than 2,400 homes were submerged in the city of Orsk in Russia's Orenburg region after a dam on the Ural River burst on the evening of April 6.
Evacuation efforts were initiated to rescue thousands of people stranded due to the floods.
Rivers in other regions of the country had also begun to overflow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government last week to establish a special commission to deal with the floods.
A state of emergency was declared on April 8 in the Kurgan and Tyumen regions due to the threat of flooding, and temporary accommodation centers were set up in some areas, with evacuations underway.
*Writing by Serdar Dincel from Istanbul