Indian authorities have moved around a million people into emergency camps in recent days as the death toll from monsoon floods jumped Monday to at least 184.

The southern state of Kerala, a tourist haven known for its beaches, hill resorts and backwaters, has been the worst hit region for the second consecutive year, forcing the closure of the Kochi international airport for three days last week.

"At least 76 people have died, 58 are missing and another 32 have received injuries," Pramod Kumar, Kerala police spokesman, told AFP.

Around 288,000 people across the state's worst affected districts including Wayanad, Malappuram and Kozhikode have been moved to relief camps.

At least 42 people have also lost their lives in neighbouring Karnataka state, which has seen some of its worst flooding of recent years.

"We have evacuated over 580,000 people", a senior Karnataka government official told AFP.

Many key highways and roads across the affected regions have been damaged or cut off by rising waters.

Local emergency personnel and troops from the army, navy and air force have been deployed for search, rescue and relief operations.

Indian media have also reported 66 deaths in the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, with tens of thousands of people shifted to relief camps.

While the monsoon rains are crucial to replenishing water supplies in drought-stricken India, they kill hundreds of people across the country every year.

Last year Kerala was hit by its worst floods in almost a century with around 450 people killed.

Typhoon Lekima death toll hits 49 in China
Beijing (AFP) Aug 13, 2019 - The death toll from Typhoon Lekima rose to 49 on Tuesday and 21 were still missing after the monster storm wreaked havoc on China's eastern coast, causing huge damage with strong gales and torrential rain.

Lekima hit the three Chinese provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui over the weekend and forced more than a million residents to flee.

China's official news agency Xinhua said late Monday that at least 49 people are dead with dozens still missing.

Footage on state broadcaster CCTV showed flooded fields and streets, submerged vehicles, scattered debris and trees blown over as strong winds and rain pounded cities along the seaboard.

Lekima made landfall in Zhejiang province on Saturday, which bore the brunt of the damage after the storm hit with winds of nearly 190 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour) and pounded the coast with waves several metres in height.

Xinhua said the rainfall recorded this weekend in Shandong province was the largest since records began in 1952.

The natural disaster has inflicted economic losses of at least 26 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion), authorities said.

Rescue workers were shown on CCTV using boats and rope pulleys to carry out stranded residents over the weekend.

Thousands of flights were cancelled and train routes disrupted due to the typhoon, the state broadcaster reported, as Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities grounded planes.

Hundreds of tourist sites along the coast, including Shanghai Disneyland, were closed ahead of the storm.

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