Flooding in Russia's Ural Mountains broke a dam in the southwestern city of Orsk — forcing emergency workers to use lifeboats to rescue about 2,000 people, according to reports Saturday.

Video footage showed emergency workers in orange jumpsuits and white helmets wading through thigh-high water as they helped one woman out of her home.

As many as 10,000 residents may live in the the flood zone, and up to 4,000 homes could be swamped by rising water, the BBC said, citing local officials.

Half of Orsk's old town district was inundated and Mayor Vasily Kozupitsa said the situation was "rapidly worsening."

"Citizens of the Leninsky and Sovetsky districts of Orsk are being evacuated to temporary accommodation centers," according to a statement from the the regional prosecutor's office.

The dam burst Friday night after melting mountain ice caused the Ural River to overflow in Russia's Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan.

The prosecutor's office reportedly blamed the dam break on poor maintenance and the Associated Press said Russia's Investigative Committee opened a criminal probe into suspected safety violations.

Widespread flooding has been reported on both sides of the Russian-Kazakh border for several days, with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev saying it may mark the country's worst natural disaster in 80 years, according to the BBC.