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People in the town of Ishim further east have also been asked to evacuate because of high levels of the river of the same name.

Petropavl in northern Kazakhstan has also been badly affected by flooding of the river Ishim.

Water levels in both the Ishim and the Tobol, which form part of the world's seventh longest Ob river system, are not expected to peak until 23 or 24 April.

The Ishim and Tobol rivers are also reaching dangerous levels, and are only predicted to peak around 23-24 April.

In Petropavl on the Ishim river, in North Kazakhstan region, a local reservoir was threatening to overflow, potentially flooding a major road between two Russian cities - Chelyabinsk and Novosibirsk.