"India monsoon floods toll tops 1,000"

Update: 19+ million displaced

NEW DELHI The death toll caused by monsoon rains in India topped the 1,000 mark on Friday with new victims reported from northern Uttar Pradesh state, officials said.

Twenty-one deaths occurred overnight in three eastern Uttar Pradesh districts hardest hit by the heavy flooding, relief commissioner Umesh Sinha told AFP.

The figures brought to 1,028 the number of people reported killed nationwide in the annual torrential rains that begin in June and last until September, according to figures from officials and media reports.

Deaths were also reported in the states of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.

"The situation is under control now," Sinha said after announcing 1,650 paramilitary and army personnel had been deployed along with civilian rescue teams to help 1.4 million flood-hit people.

Many rivers were in spate, breaching embankments and dykes, Sinha said.

The weather office in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh state, forecast more rain for the region with "heavy to very heavy rains expected in the next 24 hours."

The monsoon regularly brings flooding to India but this year has seen some of the worst in recent times with the north and east of the country particularly hard hit.

In neighbouring Bihar state, chief minister Nitish Kumar described the flood situation as "grim" with more than seven million people cut off by overflowing rivers.

"It's not possible to reach all the people by boat. The only alternative is airdropping relief material," Kumar said of the state's worst-hit Darbhanga district.

"Sixteen of the state's 38 districts are under water. That means some 3,614 villages are affected," A.K Chowdhury, Bihar chief secretary told AFP by phone.

Flooding has destroyed crops planted over 630,000 hectares (1.6 million acres) and early estimates suggest losses of 450 million rupees (11 million dollars) in the state, he said.

"The flood situation is very very serious, the situation we have now is unprecedented in the past 30 years," Chowdhury said.