New Delhi  - The number of dead in floods driven by heavy rains in India's southern and western states rose to at least 283, with more than 2.5 million people left homeless, news reports said Tuesday.

Rains eased in the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well as the western state of Maharashtra, but hundreds of villages remained isolated. Health agencies fear an outbreak of water-borne illnesses.

Karnataka accounted for 194 deaths while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh registered 55 deaths, PTI news agency and the Hindustan Times reporter. At least 34 people were killed in flood-related incidents in Maharashtra.

Government officials told the Economic Times daily that Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh had reported damage of 320 billion rupees (6.7 billion dollars) following the worst floods in the states in more than 60 years.

Military aircraft and boats were being used to drop and distribute food rations and plastic sheets to the marooned villagers in both the southern states.

According to disaster management officials overseeing relief operations, some 2 million people had been made homeless in the state and 250,000 houses either collapsed or were damaged in the state. More than 450,000 people were sheltered in 1,300 relief camps.

In Andhra Pradesh, more than 500,000 people had been evacuated to safety and half of them were living in relief camps. The Krishna river breached its embankment, inundating dozens of villages in the Krishna and Guntur districts.

Authorities in the two districts evacuated 250,000 people from over 200 villages and parts of Vijayawada city, the IANS news agency reported.

Vijayawada city, considered the business hub of Andhra Pradesh on the banks of the river, remained cut off from the rest of the state.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was expected to undertake an aerial survey of flood-hit areas in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka later on Tuesday, officials said.

More than 1,600 people have died across 19 of India's 28 states during the monsoon rains this year, according to the disaster management division of the federal Home Ministry.

The monsoon season usually begins in June and wanes by September. Heavy cloud formations over the Arabian Sea to the west of India's southern peninsula and a depression over the Bay of Bengal in the east have caused the unusually heavy rains, according to the Meteorology Department.  (dpa)