Floodwaters from the annual torrential rains were retreating across much of the region but victims remained in desperate need of relief supplies, aid workers said.

The rains in India, Bangladesh and Nepal have devastated crops, washed away roads and homes, left tens of millions homeless and killed at least 1,783, according to an AFP tally since July 10 based on official figures. Media reports say the final toll from the June-September rains may be far greater.

Police in eastern India, ravaged by weeks of flooding, said they opened fire late Wednesday on a stone-throwing mob in a town near Bihar state capital Patna, killing a 14-year-old boy, who were protesting what they said was a lack of food relief.

"Police had to open fire to stop the rioting flood victims from damaging government property," police superintendent H.N. Deva said.

Bihar has been worst hit in India by flooding with officials saying at least 605 have died. Countrywide, the death toll was at least 962.

In Nepal, at least 183 have died while in Bangladesh some 638 have been killed in what government officials say is the worst flooding since 1998, the country's official BSS news agency said.

Flood waters were receding across Bangladesh but there were "crying needs for emergency food and medical aid" for millions of victims living in temporary shelters and there was a "massive" outbreak of diarrhoea, the news agency said.

Health workers have warned thousands could die if medical supplies were not delivered to check the outbreak of water-borne and acute respiratory diseases, one of the biggest killers of children.

Latest estimates show 33 million people have been affected by the flooding, the heaviest since Bangladesh's worst floods of 1998, BSS said.

The Bangladeshi government has said the floods have caused 6.6 billion dollars worth of damage to infrastructure and property. The UN has said Bangladesh would need a year to recover from the floods.

In India's western state of Gujarat, flood waters that were up to 10 feet high (three metres) in places were receding in the south, worst hit in recent days by the monsoon, Gujarat relief commissioner V.A. Sathe said.

Some 179 have died in the state since the rains hit the state two weeks ago and at last 18 were missing, police director general A.K. Bargav told AFP.

But weather officials said more heavy rains were in store in the western and northwestern regions, which had been facing drought, threatening economic growth in the agriculture-dependent country of more than one billion.

Firefighters were pressed into service to help soldiers in Gujarat rescue stranded people and distribute food but "overcast skies are making rescues difficult by helicopter so we're relying mostly on boats" Sathe said.

Soldiers using boats and helicopters have plucked at least 50,000 people to safety in Gujarat where swollen rivers spilled their banks, submerging huts and sending people fleeing with only the possessions they could carry.

The rains also created transport chaos for a second day, forcing the cancellation of many long-distance trains in Gujarat and in neighbouring Maharashtra state, home to India's financial hub, Bombay, officials said.

Some workers waded knee-deep in water to reach offices. Financial institutions and other businesses said many people did not turn up for work.

The rains turned some Bombay streets into rivers and open sewers overflowed, creating misery for slum dwellers and raising fears of epidemics.

TERRA.WIRE