At the time of its collapse, torrential rain was recorded in the area, while melting snow helped push water levels in the Ural River to 9.6 metres (31 ft).

[2] Officials in the downstream city of Orsk said that the situation was rapidly worsening, and the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called it the country’s worst natural disaster in the last 80 years.

[7][8] On 7 April, the Russian government declared a federal emergency as the Orsk oil refinery shut down, adding that flooding was also expected in Kurgan and Tyumen Oblasts.

[10] The mayor of Orsk, Vasiliy Kozupitsa, met with residents and promised to provide financial support to flood victims, and increase security to prevent theft in the affected areas of the city.

[12] Residents and volunteers said that the security promised earlier by the authorities was instead used to protect the city's government buildings and politicians from protestors rather than residential areas from robberies.

[15] Mass evacuations in the Orenburg were ordered on 12 April[16] after Salmin warned that flooding in the city was expected to peak on that day before receding in the following week.

[23] On 8 April, residents of Orsk staged protests in the city's central square over insufficient compensation provided by the local government for damages and the failure to fix the structural deficiencies of the dam.

Demonstrators also appealed for an intervention from President Putin, who ordered a government commission to oversee the response to the disaster[24] and deployed Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov to Orenburg Oblast.