ALMATY, 13 February (IRIN) - Flooding in southern Kazakhstan has forced hundreds of people to leave their homes after the Syrdarya River burst its banks in several places. There are no reports of casualties, but houses along the riverbank have been flooded, the Ministry of Emergencies (MOE) reported on Tuesday.

"The flooding began on 9 February when a dam 3km from the [southern] city of Kyzylorda burst, flooding 14.5 hectares of land and 45 homes," Dikhanbek Satylganov, director of the MOE's civil defence department, told IRIN from the Kazakh capital, Astana.

A total of 52 people were evacuated from the area, some of whom have since returned after reinforcement work was carried out by the MOE on the riverbank.

Overnight on 10-11 February the river burst its banks near the Kyzylorda hydro-engineering complex, flooding more houses and leading to the evacuation of 900 people.

Another 70 houses were flooded on 12 February near the village of Aynakol when a dam failed to cope with rising water levels.

The MOE is fighting to contain an ice jam in the river, which caused flooding along the banks south of Kyzylorda. Explosives have been used to send it downstream.

Up to 2,000 rescue workers have been drafted in to evacuate those at risk and contain the floods, shoring up banks and carrying out explosive work. The deputy emergencies minister Valeriy Petrov is heading the operational headquarters dealing with the flooding and meeting the needs of the evacuated.

The MOE said on Monday 1,500 people had been evacuated. The ministry declined to specify a figure on Tuesday, saying the number of evacuees was fluctuating as some returned and others were forced to leave.

The evacuated are being temporarily housed in a school in Kyzylorda city and are provided with initial aid, including food and healthcare, by the emergencies ministry, the MOE's crisis centre reported.

Flooding along the Syrdarya River in the south of the country is a regular problem as the winter snow thaws, river ice dislodges and water levels rise.

Water is a controversial commodity

Water is a controversial commodity in Central Asia. In winter Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan release water from dams upstream to generate electricity, which exacerbates floods caused by weather conditions in downstream countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

In summer, however, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan face water shortages as their upstream neighbours collect water in their dams for winter power-generating purposes. The lack of a clear water-management system for the region exacerbates the problems caused by nature.

Water management during Soviet times in Central Asia was highly centralised, with Moscow instructing the upstream republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to accumulate water in their reservoirs in winter and to start releasing it at the beginning of the cotton farming season to downstream Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

In return, the three former Soviet states provided their upstream neighbours with fuel and natural gas needed for energy during winter. However, after independence in 1991, the interests of upstream and downstream neighbours began to clash and this has led to numerous water and energy disputes.

While there was no serious flooding in 2006, flooding of 550 sq km of land in 2005 led to the evacuation of more than 500 people from areas around the Syrdarya River and the previous year, 2,000 people were evacuated after 600 sq km of land was flooded.

This year, however, the MOE is confident that the situation is in hand – at least for the moment. "There are no particular problems today," Satylganov said. "There have been no casualties. Monitoring and evacuation are under way … Everything is under control."

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