<p>There is a severe shortage of chlorine in the country and this can pose a lot of problems for grassroots health officials, government servants and people who have to cleanse water sources like wells that were exposed to flood water, Upul Rohana, the head of the Public Health Inspectors Union told The Island.</p>
<p>"We urge health officials to do something about this soon," he said.</p>
<p>Rohana said people must be more vigilant and prevent the rapid spread of communicable diseases following the floods.</p>
<p>"We usually see a rapid spread of various ailments that are caused by consuming contaminated food and water as well as rat fever following floods. Rat fever is usually caused by travelling through or playing in contaminated flood water. Please avoid these practices," he said.</p>
<p>Rohana said that people must not consume any produce that was exposed to flood water without washing and cooking them properly. "It's best if you don't eat such food at all. If your house or well was flooded, please cleanse them. You need chlorine to clean wells," he said.</p>
<p>Floods in all parts of the country are receding, the irrigation department said on Wednesday (05).</p>
<p>The water levels of most rivers have dropped noticeably, the department said.</p>
<p>"We are expecting the rains to reduce in the coming days. However, the lowlands remain submerged," Ajith Wijemanna, Deputy Director at the Department of Meteorology said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said that 247,406 people in 13 districts had been affected by the floods as at 6 am on Wednesday.</p><!-- /wp:html --></p><p>[Category: <a href="https://feed.lankaimage.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a>]</p><p><strong>Tags:</strong> </p>
<p><img src="" alt="Featured Image"></p><p><!-- wp:html --><p><span>By Rathindra Kuruwita</span></p>