Wildfires raging in central Russia due to abnormally hot weather have claimed 30 lives, left 2,210 people homeless and caused damages worth over 4.6 billion rubles ($150 million), the Ministry for Regional Development said on Sunday.
The wildfires have affected 14 Russian regions, destroyed a total of 1,875 homes, with the largest destructions observed in the Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Ryazan regions, the ministry said, citing data as of late July 31.
As many as 771 wildfires were registered in the European part of Russia as of early Sunday, including peat bog fires, the ministry said.
Temperatures across much of western and central Russia have topped 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in the past five weeks, causing peat bog and forest fires and creating what is thought to be the worst drought in the country since 1972.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who visited the fire-damaged Vyksa district in Nizhny Novgorod on Friday, severely criticized local administrations for their poor handling of the fire crisis and said local government chiefs who had failed to cope with the deadly wildfires must resign.
RIA Novosti
