Alappuzha: With the rains staying away for the second consecutive day and rivers retreating to their original course, water levels have begun to recede in villages across the Core, Upper Kuttanad regions spread across three districts.

While the overall situation improved marginally in Alappuzha, more instances of bund breaches emerged from the region during the day.

A breach in the outer bund of the 250-acre Cherukayal kayal paddy polder at Kainakary in Kuttanad submerged paddy crops and about 400 houses in the area while the paddy saplings in the adjacent Aarupanku polder too were overtaken by the run-off water.

Outer bunds of more than half a dozen paddy polders in the region breached in the past week.

Meanwhile, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation resumed bus services through the Nedumbram stretch of the Ambalappuzha- Thiruvalla road after floodwaters receded.

As of Sunday evening, 4,539 people belonging to 1,371 families took shelter in 69 relief camps in Alappuzha.

The camps included 23 in Chengannur, 19 in Kuttanad, eight in Mavelikara, 10 in Karthikappally, five in Ambalappuzha and four in Cherthala taluks. Besides, the department opened 291 gruel centres- 288 in Kuttanad and three in Karthikappally taluks.