Twelve die in Siberia floods

MOSCOW: Twelve people have died and nine are missing after heavy rainfall flooded dozens of villages in Russia´s southeastern Siberia, the deputy prime minister said Monday. A state of emergency has been declared in Siberia´s Irkutsk region, where dozens of villages have been partially destroyed by floods after river levels began rising dramatically.

“Unfortunately, twelve people have died and nine are being searched for,” Vitaly Mutko said during a government meeting in the Moscow region. Mutko said some 32,700 people in 83 villages were affected by the floods. “751 were injured, 153 have been hospitalised,” he added. Infrastructure has also been affected, he said, with around 13 roads and several bridges damaged.