Residents of flooded Russian city forced to drink from puddles after 12 days without running water

A lack of drinking water has driven residents of Orsk in the flooded Russian Urals region of Orenburg to drink rain water from puddles, media outlet 7x7 Horizontal Russia reported on Wednesday. 

The outlet added that the city had been without running water for 12 days, with Orsk Mayor Vasily Kozupitsa saying the supply would resume once the water level had declined.

While the authorities had assured residents they would be supplied with emergency drinking water, many have not received anything, leading them to hang buckets from their windows to collect rainwater.

A state of emergency was declared in the whole region on 4 April after torrential rain caused water levels to rise significantly leading to a dam in the city bursting the next day. 

The local authorities called on Orsk residents to evacuate in response to the catastrophic flooding. Locals have been critical of the slow emergency response, even gathering to protest on 8 April before water levels began to recede the following day.