MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Defense Ministry sent over 20 additional heavy payload military trucks for relief operation in the flood-stricken far eastern regions, the ministry said in a statement.
Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said earlier that that flooding caused by weeks of torrential rains across three far eastern regions was a “federal emergency.” According to him, Hundreds of homes in the Amur Region have been inundated, with more than 1,500 residents forced to flee.
The Russian Defense Ministry already sent to the flooded regions over 1,500 of military servicemen and over 250 units of military hardware to provide relief, according to Deputy Defense Minister Arkady Bakhin.
Primorye is reportedly seeing the heaviest rains in the past 20 years, with many roads made impassable and bridges destroyed. An emergency situation has been declared in 12 districts of the territory.
In the Amur Region, about 30 residential areas, including the city of Blagoveshchensk, are at risk of flooding as a hydroelectric dam increasingly dumps excess water.
