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221, including 41 children hospitalized as heavy floods hit Russia’s Irkutsk

03 July 2019 07:51 (UTC +04:00)

More than 220 people were hospitalized in Russia’s Irkutsk Region, which is hit by heavy floods, a representative of the regional emergency services said on Wednesday, APA reports citing Sputnik

According to earlier official figures, the floods left 18 people dead, 200 hospitalized and eight more missing.

The representative of the regional emergency services said that the number of those hospitalized had risen to 221, including 41 children.

He added that the list of missing people included a child.

The state of emergency was declared in the Tulunsky, Chunsky, Nizhneudinsky, Tayshetsky, Ziminsky and Kuytunsky districts of the Irkutsk Region.

Regional as well as federal authorities are making efforts to provide those affected by the disaster with necessary aid.

On Tuesday, the Federal Medical and Biological Agency set up a mobile hospital in the region to provide medical assistance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the area on Sunday on his way back from the G20 summit in Japan and ordered the military to join the relief efforts. Putin said he would hold a meeting about the situation in the region in Moscow on Wednesday.

The Russian branch of Greenpeace said Tuesday that the flooding in the region was a consequence of climate change. Later, scientists from the Irkutsk State University suggested that the anomalous development of atmospheric processes could have caused the floods.