BBC News Online: World: South Asia

Asian flood toll rising

Many others are feared missing in the rubble of hundreds of houses and buildings which have been buried or destroyed.

Millions have been left homeless as heavy rain led to rising river levels across the Himalayan region in Bhutan, Nepal and north-east India.

Officials say there are now signs the floodwaters are starting to recede.

However, aid agencies are warning of the threat of disease epidemics.

There are fears that malaria, encephalitis and typhoid will claim more lives than the flooding itself.

In India, rising floodwaters along the banks of the Brahmaputra river have already submerged the homes of more than two million people and left at least 80 dead.

Indian troops and engineers have joined Bhutanese army soldiers in the rescue work.

Army and air force helicopters have dropped food, medicine and tents to hundreds of thousands of people stranded on rooftops.

Military officials told the BBC the landslides had destroyed at least seven villages between the townships of Phuentsholing and Chhukha in southern Bhutan.

The highway that connects the north and south of the kingdom has also been been cut off.

Rescue and relief officials said their operation had been hampered by heavy rains and landslides which continued until late on Sunday.

Rising waters

In north east India, heavy rains have caused the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries to rise and overflow, flooding acres of land.

"We are surviving on coconut water and a few grains of puffed rice which we managed to carry with us after flood waters engulfed our village," Phani Das told the AFP news agency.

Many parts of the flood-hit areas are now only accessible by boat.

"We are trying our best to provide them all help but it is physically impossible to reach all the affected villages," Assam's Flood Control Minister, Promode Gogoi said.

Floods have also caused death and destruction in the Indian states of West Bengal and Bihar and the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal.