SOME 800,000 people have been displaced and over 350 have died in the worst flooding in a century in southern India’s Kerala state, as authorities rushed to bring drinking water to the most affected areas.

At least two trains carrying about 1.5 million litres of water were moving to the flooded areas from neighbouring states Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Indian railway official Milind Deouskar said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

Thousands of rescuers were continuing efforts to reach out to stranded people and get relief supplies to isolated areas by hundreds of boats and nearly two dozen helicopters, said top disaster management official P.H. Kurian

He said weather conditions had improved and expected the nearly 10,000 people still stranded to be rescued by today.

Around 800,000 people were sheltered in 4,000 relief camps across Kerala, Kurian said.

Downpours that started on August 8 have triggered floods and landslides and caused homes and bridges to collapse across Kerala, a picturesque state known for its quiet tropical backwaters and beautiful beaches.

At least 250 people have died in the flooding in a little over a week, with 31 others missing, according to Kurian.

More than 1,000 people have died in flooding in seven Indian states since the start of the monsoon season.