Earlier, an emergency was declared across the entire Orenburg region after levels in the Ural River rose dangerously because of melting ice.

Officials say 10,000 residents may be in the flooding zone and up to 4,000 houses could be inundated.

Local emergency services said they were working to stem the flooding in Orsk, about 1,800km (1,100 miles) east of Moscow,

Orsk has a population of about 230,000. The evacuees are being moved to nearby schools.

Unverified footage on the Telegram messenger app appeared to show water gushing through a breach in an earthen dam.

The region – which includes Orsk, other Urals provinces and parts of neighbouring Kazakhstan – has been hit by widespread flooding in recent days.

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