MOSCOW — Thousands are being evacuated in a region of south-western Russia because of floods made worse by a dam burst in Orsk city, officials say.

Heavy earth-moving machinery is on site trying to shore up the dam.

Earlier, an emergency was declared across the entire Orenburg region after levels in the Ural River rose dangerously because of melting ice.

Officials say 10,000 residents may be in the flooding zone and up to 4,000 houses could be inundated.

“Work in the area of the dam rupture in Orsk continues,” the Russian Emergencies Ministry said in a statement, adding that around 440 people and 217 pieces of equipment were involved in the effort.

Russian state media said more than 700 residents of two of the three districts of Orsk were being evacuated, as well as thousands more in the wider region.

“Citizens of the Leninsky and Sovetsky districts of Orsk are being evacuated to temporary accommodation centers,” the regional prosecutor’s office said in a message.

Three people were found dead following patrols in the flood zone, emergencies officials said, although their deaths are not thought to be directly related to the flooding.

Orsk Mayor Vasily Kozupitsa said the situation was “rapidly worsening”, with half of the city’s old town district flooded and the rest potentially soon to be cut off from the rest of the city.

Local emergency services said they were working to stem the flooding in Orsk, about 1,800km (1,100 miles) southeast of Moscow.

Orsk has a population of about 230,000. The evacuees are being moved to nearby schools.

Unverified footage on the Telegram messenger app appeared to show water gushing through a breach in an earthen dam.

The area —which includes Orsk and Orenburg, other Urals regions and parts of neighboring Kazakhstan — has been hit by widespread flooding in recent days.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the floods may be the country’s worst natural disaster for 80 years. — BBC