Floods kill 41 in western India

Flash flooding triggered by torrential rains has killed 41 people in India's western Gujarat state, as the annual monsoon season hits the country, a disaster management official said yesterday.

Authorities have evacuated more than 10,000 residents mainly from coastal areas of Gujarat following heavy rains in the last 24 hours, the state government said in a statement.

The coastal district of Amreli was the worst affected, with 36 people killed in flood-related incidents, a duty officer in the state's disaster control room said.

Thirteen of the deaths in Amreli occurred when two houses collapsed in the flooding, local police deputy superintendent Pinakin Parmar told AFP.

India normally sees flooding during the monsoon but the intensity of this year's rains in Gujarat has surprised many.

The air force has been deployed to help with evacuations, including that of 44 passengers of a bus stuck on a flooded highway near Amreli town, the government's statement said.

In photos released by the defence ministry, families were shown huddling on rooftops of flooded homes awaiting rescue, along with washed out train tracks and roads.