Villagers look at their submerged houses at flooded R Garlapadu village, about 180 kilometers away from Hyderabad, India, 04 Oct 2009Officials in southern India say the death toll from five days of torrential rains and flash floods has risen to at least 200.

The officials say at least 167 of the dead were in the state of Karnataka and the rest in neighboring Andhra Pradesh, where army troops and air force helicopters were rescuing stranded families and delivering emergency supplies.

Local authorities warned that the death toll is likely to rise, as many people in flood-hit areas are missing and many flooded areas remain inaccessible.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already been evacuated.

Officials say the rains destroyed thousands of homes, submerged whole villages, destroyed crops, and disrupted transport and communication links.

Weather experts say the intense rains stem from a storm in the Bay of Bengal.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.