NEW DELHI -- Days of torrential rains have unleashed floods in southeast India that have killed dozens of people and forced the evacuation of more than 70,000 others from hundreds of low-lying villages.

As of Saturday, 39 people had died in flood-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states since the rains began Monday, according to officials quoted by the Press Trust of India. Many drowned when swept away by surging waters or were killed when weakened walls collapsed onto them.

Hundreds of villages were inundated and crops were being ruined in the so-called Rice Bowl of India. Railway services have been suspended along routes where tracks were submerged or damaged.