MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) – The volume of annual runoff of almost all of Russia’s rivers will be substantially affected by global climate changes, Vladislav Bolov, head of the Emergencies Ministry’s Antistkhiya Center said on Wednesday.
“Owing to the expected shifts in temperature and rainfall amounts, the annual runoff of rivers located in the Central and the Volga federal districts will change significantly by 2015 – in comparison with today’s levels, winter river runoff will increase by 60-90 percent and the summer runoff will rise by 20-50 percent,” Bolov said.
In other federal districts there will be a 5-40-percent increase in the annual runoff.
“Along with this, the spring runoff of rivers located in the Central Black Earth economic region and in the southern part of the Siberian Federal District will fall by some 10-20 percent, which will negatively affect spring floods,” he added.
Earlier, Bolov has said that the number of flood disasters Russia will suffer over the next five years is likely to be much higher than the average owing to global climate changes.
The threat of flood disasters is highest in Russia’s central European, north European regions, eastern Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Bolov also said that the duration of the average flood period may increase twofold: from 12 to 24 days, or even more.