 The
Indian army and navy are on high alert because of a new threat
of flooding in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The state
is still recovering from monsoon floods which claimed more than
160 lives.
The deluge
in south India followed heavy floods in north-east India and neighbouring
Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
More than
300 people were killed and millions left homeless in that region.
The authorities
in Andhra Pradesh say the new concern is over the rising level
of the Godavari river, with more rain forecast for the next couple
of days.
The Godavari
is a major river which cuts across the state and flows into the
Bay of Bengal.
More than
20,000 people have already been evacuated from low-lying areas
along the river and a bridge across a major highway has been washed
away.
 Thousands
have left for higher ground
The BBC's South Asia correspondent, Mike Wooldridge, says helicopters
are on standby for possible emergency rescue operations.
The floods
in Andhra Pradesh have also hit the state capital Hyderabad, one
of the main software centres in India.
Disease
spreads
In the north-eastern
state Assam, medical officials are trying to contain oubreaks
of disease which they say have already killed 50 people.
They say cases
of gastroenteritis are spreading in the district of Kokrajhar
after local villagers drank contaminated water.
"If
the villagers continue with the practice of drinking contaminated
river water and eating half-cooked food it will be very difficult
to control the epidemic," Nageshwar Das, a doctor with a
relief team, told AFP.
Medical teams
have set up makeshift clinics to treat the villagers while paramedics
and volunteers are conducting workshops on sanitation and basic
hygiene.
Kokrajhar
is about 236 km west of Assam's capital, Guwahati, and was the
worst-hit district in the recent floods.
In the neighbouring
state of Nagaland, a rare outbreak of malaria is said to have
killed at least 20 people, with hundreds of others affected.
The mountainous
state is rarely hit by the disease which, doctors said, occured
because of stagnant water left over from the floods.
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