MOSCOW Russian emergency officials were on the alert Saturday as spring-time floods forced thousands of people from their homes in the Volga, Urals and far eastern regions of Russia, with officials in Kazakhstan also reporting a critical situation in some areas. Floods-related emergencies are expected in the Komi, Bashkir, Tuva and Altai republics and in the Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Amur, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk and Jewish autonomous region, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported as carried by AFP.