Russia battles with forest fires and spring floods

  • 12 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: A series of fires and floods have hit Russia, causing authorities to declare a state of emergency in the country's Mordovia region, where rising waters have forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

In Russia's Baikal region in East Siberia, a forest fire spread to the outskirts of a village, destroying several barns and fences.

According to media reports, the fires were started by a soldier at a nearby military camp who threw away a cigarette butt into some grass near the camp site.

In Mordovia spring floods prompted a state of emergency to be declared. More than 30 villages are cut off by high water with more than a thousand houses flooded.

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