YAKUTSK, Russia — Russian bombers and helicopters on Tuesday destroyed a massive ice blockage that has forced floodwaters toward the Siberian city of Yakutsk, but residents still braced for a wave of water.
A spokeswoman for the Yakutsk administration said the worst floodwaters in a century, which had threatened to breach a hastily erected sand dike, had receded after the aerial bombing.
"It (the Yakutsk water level) was 9.17 meters (yards) three hours ago; now it is 8.87," she told Reuters.
Destroying the blockage was crucial to clearing a path for a meter-high wave of water to flow freely toward the Arctic, she said, but there was still a danger it would surge into Yakutsk, jeopardizing its 200,000 people later Tuesday.
"The situation remains very dangerous, but now there is hope that the big wave will pass by," the spokeswoman said.
Sukhoi-24 bombers have dropped 72 bombs over the past few days on a huge ice floe 35 miles from Yakutsk, turning it into a sea of mushy ice.
"But it still refused to move," she said. "This morning the river was shrouded in mist and we had to send helicopter gunships. Miraculously, they managed to shift the ice."
The swollen river Lena earlier destroyed most of the upstream town of Lensk, forcing the evacuation of most of its 30,000 residents. Russian news agencies said five people had drowned and two were missing.
Spring meltwaters after an exceptionally harsh Siberian winter have caused the river to swell and persistent ice blockages downstream have stopped the water moving north.
Authorities in Yakutsk, the capital of Russia's biggest diamond-mining republic Sakha-Yakutiya, told residents to stay at home on Tuesday and prepare for possible flooding.
They ordered hospitals to move patients and equipment to top floors and banned sales of strong alcohol in the city.
"If the water hits the city, it will be very cold and people will start warming themselves up the usual Russian way. It will be much easier for us to save them if they are sober," she said.
Buses mounted with loudspeakers criss-crossed Yakutsk, urging residents to "take children, money and warm clothing" and leave their homes if they hear an air-raid siren—a signal that floodwaters will engulf the city.
Some Yakutsk suburbs and outlying villages are already flooded and residents have fled, leaving cattle behind. The bellowing of drowning cattle could be heard from abandoned stables.
Some people have refused to leave and remain in or near their flooded homes to prevent looting.
Further southwest, authorities in the republic of Tyva, on the border with Mongolia, started evacuating residents from the capital Kyzyl after the swelling Yenisey partially flooded some of the city's suburbs.