Melting snow triggers record flooding in Russia's Urals

Swiftly melting snow has triggered the worst recorded flooding in Russia's Ural Mountains, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes as some of Europe's biggest rivers swelled to bursting point.

Russia declared an emergency in the Orenburg region near Kazakhstan after the Ural River, Europe's third-longest river, swelled several metres in hours on April 5 and burst through a dam embankment in the city of Orsk.

The river, which rises in the Ural Mountains and flows into the Caspian Sea, was expected to reach dangerous levels on April 8 in Orenburg, a city of 500,000 downriver from Orsk, and the peak is expected there on April 10, Russia's Emergency Ministry said.

More than 10,400 homes across Russia have been flooded, with the Urals, Siberia, the Volga and central regions the worst hit, according to the ministry.