Heavy rains kill at least 25 in India

Torrential rains from remnants of Cyclone Nilam flooded hundreds of villages in India's Andhra Pradesh state, killing at least 25 people, authorities said. NDTV television reported three more deaths were confirmed Sunday, raising the death toll in the southern coastal state to 25. The rains were blamed both on Cyclone Nilam that landed in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu last week and the northeast monsoon. The worst hit regions were Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Guntur and the east and west Godavari districts, the report said. The flooding forced the evacuation of about 80,000 people. One of the districts received more than a foot of rain during the weekend. Meteorologists said more rains were in the forecast for the next 48 hours. All vehicular transportation in the affected regions in the state remained disrupted and several train services also were suspended. Andhra Pradesh Gov. E.S.L. Narasimhan said the government would provide all help to farmers and other people, the Times of India reported. In Tamil Nadu, the cyclone killed more than 10 people, including the crew of an oil tanker which ran ground near the state capital of Chennai, the BBC reported.