Uzbekistan: 70,000 evacuated after dam wall collapses

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan

Some 70,000 people have been evacuated from eastern Uzbekistan as hundreds of houses were submerged under waters from a collapsed dam, said government officials on Saturday.

Agricultural lands and some residential areas in the region were flooded, hundreds of houses were damaged, and 56 people were injured in the Sirdaryo region after the Sardoba Dam partially collapsed due to heavy rain, according to Murod Sadikov, spokesperson of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Rescue efforts in the region continue, and the water flow was redirected to local rivers.

Speaking at the scene, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said all necessary steps will be taken to address the situation.

Completed in 2017, the Sardoba Dam, which has a water capacity of 922 million cubic meters, is used for irrigating agricultural lands in the provinces of Sirdaryo and Jizzakh.