India Braces For More Flooding

Authorities in western India warned residents that they could be hit by more floods, even as the waters receded in other areas battered by this year's monsoon.

Water was rising fast in the Mahi River of Gujarat state, threatening to flood four districts, said the state's information officer, Hiren Bhat.

"We expect fresh floods in these areas in the next two to three hours," Bhat told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Gandhinagar, the state's capital.

Meanwhile, rescue workers recovered nine bodies in Surat, a diamond trading hub in Gujarat that was hit hard by this week's flooding, Bhat said. More than 80 percent of the city, home to about 3 million people, remains flooded.

Separately, the Press Trust of India reported that one resident died and 17 others were injured when a four-story building in the city collapsed.

But Bhat said the rains had stopped and the situation was slowly improving.

This year's monsoon deluge has claimed at least 63 lives in Gujarat since June, he said.

Bhat said officials have asked people to remain alert and move to higher ground in the four districts where fresh floods were feared.

Heavy rains over the past two weeks have swollen rivers and flooded houses, forcing more than 650,000 people from their homes in southern Andhra Pradesh state and the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

In Maharashtra, the level of the Godavari River receded slightly after days of fury.

At least 163 people had died in Maharashtra over the past week and 36,750 families were evacuated to safer ground, said Manisha Mhaiskar, who head the state's information bureau. Eighty-seven people were still missing, she said.

"The situation in Nanded and 178 villages along the Godavari River is now stabilizing, because rainfall is now scanty and relief is able to reach there," she said.

Across India, the rains have killed at least 651 people this year, with most drowning in floods, being crushed by landslides or collapsed houses, or by getting electrocuted. However, many areas don't keep accurate death tolls, and the total number of people killed is likely much higher.

Hundreds of thousands people were staying in relief camps in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, that has witnessed widespread losses in the flooding. At least 106 people have died there because of monsoon rains, which fall from June through September.