Over 60 communities flooded in Far East

Over 60 communities with a combined population of almost 36,000 remain in the flood zone in the Far East, the Russian sanitation authority reports.

"Over 60 communities with a population exceeding 35,800 people remain flooded in the territory of the Far Eastern Federal District," a posting on the website of Rospotrebnadzor consumers\' rights watchdog says.

There have been no outbursts of dangerous diseases in flooded areas, "the epidemiological situation remains stable," it says.

"A forecast of a possible aggravation of the situation has been made in case of failure to observe a complex of sanitation and anti-epidemic measures in all municipal and city districts subject to flooding," the posting says.

The authority says it monitors surface and subsurface sources of water supplies and centralized water supply systems in the flooded areas of Amur region, the Jewish autonomous district and Khabarovsk territory. "In the territories where the flooding is over work is continuing to organize and monitor disinfection, insect and rat control efforts," the posting says.

Previously Rospotrebnadzor chief Gennady Onishchenko told the press that some 300 kilos of poison had been sent to the Far East to combat rodents in the afflicted areas. He said that rodents can spread dangerous infections.