Thousands of people were left without fresh water in Kazakhstan on Monday after a major flood disrupted water supplies in the southwest of the Central Asian state, the Emergencies Ministry said. Spring flooding is a recurring problem across Central Asia but an abrupt rise in temperatures following weeks of severe cold has exacerbated the problem this year. The Kazakh Emergencies Ministry said in a statement that 10,000 people in the city of Uralsk near Kazakhstan's border with Russia had their water supplies cut off after a flood devastated a local sewage disposal system over the weekend. Last month more than 12,000 people had to flee their homes in southern Kazakhstan after rain-swollen rivers swept away their houses, killing at least one person. Kazakhstan, a former Soviet country the size of Western Europe, is Central Asia's biggest economy and home to some of the world's biggest oil and metals reserves. (Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Stephen Weeks) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE