Russia evacuates 2,000 in Far East over floods

MOSCOW: Russia has evacuated more than 2,000 people from flooded areas in its Far East, emergency officials said Sunday, after Tropical Storm Khanun brought heavy rains to the region.

“More than 2,000 people, including 405 children, have been evacuated in Primorye,” the Russian emergency situations ministry said on Telegram.

The ministry said nearly 5,000 buildings had been flooded in the Primorye region, which borders China and North Korea.

Rescuers had set up 13 temporary accommodation centres in the region, the ministry said.

Flooding in the city of Ussuriysk was the worst in a decade, according to state-run TASS news agency.

Khanun battered Japan earlier this week before taking a circuitous route towards the Korean peninsula.

The storm also forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of scouts from their jamboree campsite in South Korea.

Reuters: A state of emergency was declared and evacuations ordered in parts of Russia’s Far East on Saturday after heavy downpours flooded villages in the aftermath of Typhoon Khanun that pummelled Japan earlier this week, local authorities said.

After lashing southern Japan, Khanun weakened to a tropical depression as it crossed into North Korea on Friday from South Korea.

In the Russian Far East, a region in the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, 32 settlements were cut off, 543 houses and large stretches of roads were flooded by Saturday morning, said authorities in the Primorye region.