( CNN ) -- Catastrophic flooding has prompted the evacuation of thousands upon thousands of people in Russia 's Far East , a government ministry said Sunday , spurring hasty efforts to set up housing for the displaced . Russia 's emergency ministry said Sunday that 18,000 people had been affected in three regions north of China not far from the Sea of Okhotsk . RIA Novosti , a state-run news agency , identified the affected regions as the Amur region , Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region . This report , citing an emergency ministry spokesperson , had an even larger number of people affected after heavy rains spurred the floods -- 32,000 , of which 17,000 had been evacuated . The evacuees had lived in thousands of homes and apartment buildings across 121 impacted towns and villages , including some like Amurskaya Oblast , Khabarovskiy Krai and Evreiskaya Oblast that were particularly devastated . Authorities rushed to set up 166 temporary shelters and move in food , water and medical supplies , Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said , according to RIA Novosti . That report , for instance , said that a plane had headed to the city of Blagoveshchensk with 53 tons of aid , including food , life jackets and boats . Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting Saturday on the floods , after which he told local governors to be involved personally in the response . `` No one must be forgotten , and no one must be lost , '' he said , as reported by RIA Novosti . The amount of rain should decrease , and the pace water levels are rising should slow down , after Tuesday , said local enviromental official Vyacheslav Parshin . The water in that river -- which is expected to reach 7 meters ( 23 feet ) by August 25 -- had never been so high , Parshin said according to RIA Novosti . The emergency ministry 's report made no mention that anyone had been killed or injured as a result . But flooding in the expansive nation of Russia has proved deadly before . Last July , at least 141 people died after floods surged through southern Russia 's Krasnodar region , state-run media reported , citing Russia 's Interior Ministry . Scores killed in Russia flooding .
3 regions in Russia 's Far East suffer catastrophic flooding . A government ministry says at least 18,000 are affected . Authorities set up 166 shelters , ship in emergency aid , state news reports .