Putin Visits Flood Region, Promises Aid

Touring a Siberian region soaked and weary after more than a week of floods, President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday promised federal funds to help rebuild homes destroyed by surging waters.

Putin also proposed that the state sell gold and high-quality diamonds from Siberia’s mineral-rich Yakutia region to help finance reconstruction, Russian news agencies reported.

Residents of Lensk, a city of 27,000 where 14,000 people were left homeless by flooding last week, lined up along a road to shake Putin’s hand and plead for assistance.

Towns and villages along the powerful Lena River have been ravaged, with six people killed and two missing. Ice jams clogging the inland artery caused it to overflow.

“The damage from the floods is enormous,” Putin said at a meeting with regional officials.

Putin told officials that he wanted to know the reasons for the damage--”not only the natural reasons, not only the elements, but what was done and what wasn’t done and why.”