Indian floods worsen, 4.5 mln people homeless

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Swollen rivers swamped thousands of villages and towns across India's south and west on Wednesday, forcing 4.5 million from their homes as rescuers struggled to bring them food and drinking water, officials said.

India's annual monsoon rains -- vital for the country's agriculture-driven economy -- have triggered floods across at least five states since the weekend, killing at least 311 people, submerging villages and causing widespread damage to crops.

Most deaths were reported from the western state of Maharashtra, where 163 people have been killed in four days of incessant rains, 86 of them in the past 48 hours, officials said.