Children in Lensk tackle a huge block of ice that floated into their house

The seasonal flooding was exacerbated by a build up of ice blocks on the River Lena, which caused it to burst its banks.

The Russian military has bombed the ice floe in an attempt to dissipate the pent-up water.

Shops have been emptied of staples and the rush on drinking water meant that the price of a five-litre bottle doubled over 48 hours, according to AFP news agency.

Fatality

The severe spring flooding, an annual occurrence in Russia, has left almost 5,000 homes under water in 32 towns and villages from the Volga river in European Russia to the Far East.

There has been one fatality. In Lensk, a 70-year-old woman drowned when she and her husband tried to escape in a boat.

Some 2,000 people have been left homeless in Lensk, and the Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted the head of the local government, Vasily Vlasov, as saying that the town would probably have to be rebuilt elsewhere, such was the scale of the devastation.

There were warnings earlier this year that Siberia and the Russian Far East could be affected by floods, following one of the harshest winters on record, when temperatures plunged to -50 Celsius.