The flood situation in Russia's southern Orenburg region near the Kazakh border remains tense, as the water level in the Ural river continues to rise.
In the city of Orenburg, the river level stood at 9.78 metres on Wednesday morning - around half a metre above what is seen as a critical threshold, according to the city administration.
Several neighbourhoods in the city are flooded.
Experts estimate the river will swell by a further 30 to 70 centimetres, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
According to an overview published by the authorities on Wednesday, 12,800 houses and 14,900 garden plots are under water in the administrative region of Orenburg on the border with Kazakhstan, with more than 7,000 people forced to leave their homes.
Due to the flooding, substations in several villages had to be switched off, leaving them without electricity. Courts suspended their work and museums took their treasures to safety.
Meanwhile resentment is growing among the population over the authorities' response, with residents saying help is only reaching them slowly.
Besides the Ural, other rivers in the region around 1,200 kilometres south-east of Moscow also swelled considerably due to the floods caused by heavy snow and ice melting in the Ural Mountains, as well as precipitation and dam breaches near the city of Orsk.
Orsk was hit hardest by the flooding, but Wednesday brought the first signs of a slight drop in water level.
Flooding was also reported in neighbouring areas of Kazakhstan. According to the Ministry of Civil Protection in the capital Astana, 96,000 people have so far been temporarily evacuated.