Torrential rains kill dozens in India

Several days of torrential rains have unleashed floods in India’s southeast region still recovering from Cyclone Phailin, killing dozens of people and forcing the evacuation of more than 70,000 others from hundreds of low-lying villages.

As of Saturday, at least 45 people had died in flood-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states since the rains began Monday, according to Press Trust of India. Many drowned when they were swept away by surging waters, while others were killed when weakened walls collapsed on them. Three others were killed in South Bengal due to heavy rains, the news agency said.

Hundreds of villages were inundated and crops were ruined in Andhra Pradesh, the so-called Rice Bowl of India. Railway services have been suspended along routes where tracks were submerged or damaged. Additionally, residents of India's high-tech hub of Hyderabad were wading through knee-deep water surging through the streets.

The local Disaster Management Department said evacuated residents were sheltering in 178 camps, while relief workers in boats and helicopters worked to help or rescue hundreds of thousands stranded by floods that have swamped both coastal and inland regions along rivers.

Both Andhra Pradesh and Orissa were hit two weeks ago by a powerful cyclone that prompted authorities to evacuate nearly a million people. The torrential storms have nearly three times as much rain as Cyclone Phailin, Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra told India’s NDTV.

Cyclone Phailin destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, many of them simple huts made of mud, wood and thatch, while causing hundreds of billions of dollars in crop damage.

India's Meteorological Department on Saturday forecast the rains to continue for at least another day.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press