MOSCOW, June 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM) has sent 24 emergency response and restoration teams in additional reinforcements to help victims of floods in southern Siberia’s regions, EMERCOM spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said on Wednesday.

The emergency response teams have been formed from students of Emergencies Ministry universities.

“Today, 243 cadets of the State Fire Academy and the St. Petersburg University of State Fire Service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry have arrived by air from Moscow and St. Petersburg to the Abakan International Airport (in Russia’s republic of Khakassia),” Drobyshevsky said.

Another 70 people are currently in Abakan to undertake recovery work in the city and the country settlement Orbita, whhich was most affected by flooding.

A total of more than 200 emergency response teams work in the affected regions, pumping out water, restoring bridges and power transmission lines, clearing farmsteads, and delivering food and water to flood victims.

Devastating floods in Russia’s southern Siberia have been caused by excessive precipitation, where monthly rainfall was registered over just a few days from May 27 to 31.

Nearly 200 settlements in the republics of Altai, Tuva, Khakassia and in the Altai territory were partially flooded, and more than 36,000 people were evacuated.

The situation has already stabilized in all regions except for the Altai territory.

As of Friday morning, 21 settlements, home to almost 5,000 people, remain partially flooded in the Altai territory.