The flood situation in Russia’s southern Orenburg region near the Kazakh border remains tense, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Moscow. Minister Alexander Kurenkov flew to the affected region in the south of the Ural Mountains on Thursday to inspect the efforts of the rescue services, the TASS news agency reported. In Orenburg, a city of half a million inhabitants, the level of the Ural River rose to 10.6 metres – almost one and a half metres above the critical mark. More than 2,000 residential buildings and more than 2,500 garden plots were under water in the city. In tota…