"People weren't notified in time": Asha, a town in the Chelyabinsk region, is flooded.

The sudden rise in water level occurred overnight. Due to warmer temperatures and rain, an ice jam formed, causing the Sim River to overflow its banks and flood two neighborhoods, the district administration reported.

People and animals evacuate Rescuers. A local emergency regime has been declared, the head of the administration reported. Vadim Sergeev Following the "emergency meeting," he said, "emergency ice-loosening equipment will begin in the near future in areas where ice ridges have formed."

Residents on social media are calling the situation "horrible" and "a nightmare." They are outraged that the authorities did nothing in advance or notified people in time.

"Why didn't they blow up the ice earlier? They promised warm weather and rain," "You should have thought about this a week ago," "It's been raining for so many days. Same old story," "Why didn't the warning system work and not warn people about the danger in time???," "They should have sounded the siren if this started at night, but we're just sitting on our asses as usual. And people are suffering!!!" — they write in the public group “Asha VKurse”.

Residents are also wondering why the protective dam failed to operate. A member of the Legislative Assembly Alexander Reshetnikov of the Chelyabinsk region claimsthat “the major repairs to the dam on the Sim River, on which the administration spent more than 120 million budget funds, were carried out with numerous violations.”

"The slag used to fill the dam is completely unsuitable for this type of work, as it allows water to pass through. The dam's height doesn't meet the design levels that would have prevented flooding of homes. The material simply wasn't filled to the required height! As a result, people and their property suffered!", writes Reshetnikov.

The flood has already affected other settlements in the south of the Chelyabinsk region.