Scientists predict the world’s largest inland sea will shrink by a quarter due to climate change by the end of the century. In Derbent, waves that once threatened to engulf entire streets have retreated by around 100 meters, leaving miles of fresh sand dunes up and down the former shoreline.
Russia's Aerial Forest Protection Service is trying to suppress 136 fires over 43,000 hectares. Firefighters are using explosives to contain the fires and seeding clouds with silver iodide to encourage rain.
Temperatures in Russia’s capital hit an all-time high of 32 degrees Celsius on Tuesday – Moscow’s hottest day in over 130 years. The heatwave follows a spate of volatile weather in the city and other parts of Russia. In June, after severe rainfall flooded parts of the city, Moscow was struck by Storm Edgar, which killed two people and injured dozens more. A rare tornado was also sighted in the Moscow region.
Around 40 daily temperature records were broken across Russia and annexed Crimea on Tuesday as hot summer weather gripped the country. The unprecedented temperatures have engulfed Russia from its central regions to the Far East, reaching a maximum of 38.7 degrees Celsius in the village of Mamakan in southeastern Siberia’s Irkutsk region.
Environmentalists say the latest flooding may have sent radioactive substances into the river, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of people living near the banks of the Tobol downstream. State nuclear agency Rosatom, whose subsidiary operates the mines at the Dobrovolnoye uranium deposit, denied that its mining facilities were impacted by the flood.
Photos of Yugorsk and other cities showed residential buildings fuzzy under a blanket of white smog.
Wildfires in Russia have burned across a combined area the size of Greece so far in 2020, surpassing official estimates threefold. Experts warn that this year’s blazes could become the most destructive in history.
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