It turns out that RSE "Kazhydromet" had been warning regional authorities about the upcoming floods since December, but the authorities took no action.
According to the Telegram channel "The Official", citing the Director General of "Kazhydromet", Danara Alimbayeva, the agency had been "sounding the alarm" that dangerous floods were expected in the West Kazakhstan, Aktobe, Atyrau, Kostanay, North Kazakhstan, Akmola, Karaganda, East Kazakhstan regions, and the Abai region.
At the same time, it has become known that since March, "Kazhydromet" has issued more than 100 storm warnings. These were sent to all local executive bodies and central authorities.
Meanwhile, according to the weather forecast, 1-10 April is expected to bring unstable weather across Kazakhstan. Near-normal precipitation is expected over most of the country. Above-normal precipitation is expected in the mountainous and foothill areas of the south, southeast and east of the country.
Earlier, during a meeting of the Republican Headquarters for coordinating flood control measures and eliminating the consequences of the flood period, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the development of an information system for emergency modelling.
He also noted that the situation with floods and fires repeats year after year, and the forecasting and analytical work of the responsible bodies and specialised services – RSE "Kazvodkhoz" and "Kazhydromet" – is poorly organised.
As we can see, "Kazhydromet" is trying to deflect criticism from itself and point a finger at the true culprits, in their view, of the current situation in the country with floods and widespread inundation.
Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, for his part, had earlier stated that "all regional authorities are reporting full readiness for floods". At the same time, Bektenov criticised the regional administrations, saying that drills are being conducted only pro forma and that readiness for floods "remains only on paper". And today we are seeing exactly the picture that the Prime Minister predicted.