Atyrau Oblast is in danger of floods: Minister

There is a high threat of floods in Atyrau oblast, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Bozhko as saying at the sidelines of the government meeting. "There is a threat. There is lots of snow in the area. We are currently controlling the situation. All our measures are taken to control the rivers there, in the southern regions, in West-Kazakhstan and Atyrau oblasts. Right now Atyrau oblast administration is working together with the emergency situation department on cleaning up all villages and towns. They also work on creation of additional facilities to divert water," Bozhko said. The Minister also explained the way 6 regions in South-Kazakhstan oblast were saved from floods. "That's because we started removing snow away from the areas in time and cleaned up the ditches and channels from snow. Plus we had major engineering equipment involved and made channels for discharge of melt water," Bozhko added. Speaking of the flood situation in Kazakhstan, Bozhko also noted that 30 yards were flooded by melting snow water in Zhambyl oblast this night. Rescue operations are in process.