The death toll in rains and floods triggered by cyclonic storms in India's Andhra Pradesh roseto 56 Wednesday as disaster management authorities evacuated more nearly 140,000 people from marooned villages and towns in the coastal region.

Some "56 people have lost their lives, and we have evacuated nearly 141,000 people to 567 relief camps. Relief operations are in full swing. And with rains receding, we hope the situation would improve in the next 24 hours," a senior Andhra Pradesh government official told Xinhua over phone from capital city Hyderabad Wednesday.

With 10 districts of the state in the intense grip of the rainsand floods, the state government also pressed into service Indian Air Force and Indian army choppers Wednesday in evacuating people from inundated areas and also dropping food packets to the hungry people.

While the water level in Godavari river has slightly come down,providing some respite to three districts, several areas in Krishna and Guntur districts of the state remain submerged due to heavy rains.

Hundreds of villages in north and south coastal Andhra are marooned due to heavy rains over the last three days and the swollen Krishna and Godavari rivers.

Krishna and Godavari are the two principal rivers of the state.

The floods have also caused disruption in the air, road and rail transport as dozens of trains between Hyderabad and coastal cities and towns and also between southern Indian cities and New Delhi have been canceled or diverted.

For the third consecutive day, all flights from the coastal town of Visakhapatnam were canceled as the runway remained under water.

The state's commercial capital Vijayawada in Krishna district has also been affected badly due to the rains.

Source: Xinhua