ALMATY, Kazakhstan — The death toll from a massive flood that devastated a village in southern Kazakhstan has soared to 35, the country's president said Saturday.
A privately owned dam at a reservoir in the eastern Almaty region neighboring China ruptured Thursday evening, unleashing torrents almost 2 meters high and completely destroying Kyzyl-Agash, a village of 3,000 people.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a government meeting that the owner of the dam could face prosecution for failing to take adequate safety measures in preparation for the spring floods.
Nazarbayev also criticized emergency response officials for failing to properly check on the safety of water supply facilities across the country.
Authorities said more than 600 emergency workers have reached Kyzyl-Agash to help clear the debris and that police have been posted at the entrance to the village to prevent looting. The country's top emergency official, Vladimir Bozhko, is leading an operation to assess the scale of the damage.
An on-site commission is assisting in organizing funerals and providing replacement documents for the surviving flood victims.
By Friday evening, emergency workers had erected tents for 1,000 people near Kyzyl-Agash. About 700 people have been evacuated to temporary accommodation in the regional capital, Taldykorgan, and a further 300 have been taken to the nearby village of Sagabien.
Prime Minister Karim Masimov traveled Friday evening to Taldykorgan to personally supervise rescue efforts.
"We need to have understanding for the situation of the victims — they have suddenly been left without homes, money and documents," Masimov said in a government statement.
He said many of the victims were ethnic Kazakhs who returned from neighboring countries to resettle in their historic homeland after Kazakhstan gained independence amid the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Nazarbayev said Saturday that people left homeless could again be resettled as part of the government program aimed at attracting the ethnic Kazakh diaspora.
In another part of the Almaty region, heavy rain and thawing snow Thursday evening eroded a levee in the village of Zhylbulak, flooding 140 homes and affecting 820 people. No casualties have been reported from the site.
Southern Kazakhstan was affected by unusually intense snowfalls this winter, and fast-rising temperatures are causing major flooding and mudslides across the region.
Transportation has been severely hampered over recent days after major railroads and highway bridges across the country were washed away by the heavy rains.
Officials have made a concerted effort to respond rapidly to the flooding, marking a strong contrast with the lackluster reaction to a devastating fire in Taldykorgan in September that claimed 38 lives.