Thousands of people were affected across western and southern India as several towns and cities went under swirling flood waters following heavy rains even as Indian Government ordered Tuesday deployment of troops and military helicopters to help the marooned.

The diamond polishing city of Surat in Gujarat and several districts in Andhra Pradesh were worst hit, with flood waters submerging vast areas.

Several places in Maharastra and parts of Madhya Pradesh were also deluged.

Members of the parliament (MPs), cutting across party lines, voiced concern in the parliament over the plight of the flood-ravaged people. They said over 1,000 people were estimated to have died while tens of thousands have been rendered homeless, Indo-Asian News Service reported Tuesday.

Crops over vast areas have been destroyed and a large number of cattle and other animals have perished.

The flood fury, the worst in two decades, overtook Surat city Tuesday, with people reeling under neck-deep water after the authorities released water from an overflowing dam upstream. More than 150,000 people were evacuated from the district.

The last time Surat was flood-hit was in 1995 when the township was almost completely destroyed.

Most areas in Surat district were under 1.5-meter-high water. Local flood control authorities said a massive operation to evacuate people was undertaken as the Ukai dam authority released unprecedented 1.8 million cusecs water that marooned the city areas adjacent to the Tapti riverbanks.

The high tide in the Arabian Sea has made the situation worse for Surat as the Tapti waters have got diverted into the city, paralyzing daily life.

The flood situation in coastal Andhra Pradesh remained grim Tuesday with the Godavari breaching its banks and inundating more villages, leading to the navy pressing helicopters and boats to rescue the marooned.

Since heavy monsoon rains triggered the floods six days ago, over 100 people have been killed in the state.

Around 300 villages in East and West Godavari districts have been submerged. Thousands of people are homeless and crops have been badly damaged.

Tens of thousands are also marooned in East Godavari, West Godavari, Khammam and Adilabad districts.

In another development, a low-pressure area is developing over Bay of Bengal. According to J.V.M. Naidu, former director of the Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Center, this could result in rains over coastal Andhra and Telangana.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has also sought Indian army's help. According to the chief minister, more than 115,000 people had to be evacuated from 5,412 villages. He said crops in 923,000 acres have been inundated and some 67,000 houses have been damaged.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2006)