KARACHI (BBC) -- People in southern India and Pakistan are struggling to cope with the effects of three days of heavy rain that have left several hundred people dead. There are warnings that more bad weather -- a cyclone and heavy winds -- is imminent.
Much of Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi -- where 200 died -- is still without power and water.
More than 140 have been killed in the rains in India. There have also been a number of deaths in Afghanistan.
Officials have been evacuating residents from shanty towns in Karachi, where badly built homes collapsed or were washed away by the torrential rain.
A provincial official said the army had been asked to help evacuate people from coastal areas.
Correspondents say the over-burdened infrastructure of Karachi just could not cope with the deluge.
Forecasters say a cyclone and heavy winds are set to hit most of Pakistan's coast and much of India's west coast.
Officials in Karachi say that in just one area of the city, Gadap in the northwest, more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed. ---------------------- Still counting the bodies
Temporary relief camps have been set-up, but most of those affected are refusing to leave their destroyed homes.
Gadap, like other areas of the city, is without drinking water.
For weeks before the weekend floods, Karachi had been hit hot weather and power cuts, leading to protests and rioting.
Correspondents who have visited the flooded areas and the city mortuaries confirm that more than 200 people were killed, although the mayor of Karachi has said less than 70 deaths have been confirmed.
Meanwhile, the provincial governor has ordered that large billboards in the city should be taken down and in future there should be a limit on the size and number of billboards.
Falling billboards and hoardings accounted for many of the fatalities in the city.
Winds of up to 40 nautical miles an hour are predicted for the coastline of Pakistan. Fishermen have been told to stay on land because of the dangers of three-meter high waves.
Indian weather forecasters have warned of a cyclone hitting the coastal areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat states by Wednesday.
Heavy rains have already caused the deaths of some 140 people in southern and western India. The states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have been the worst hit.
The BBC's Sunil Raman in Delhi says the flood situation remains grim in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Tamil Nadu and Orissa have been put on alert.
So far, some 25 people have been killed in Karnataka, 53 in Kerala, over 38 in Andhra Pradesh and around 50 in Maharashtra.
In Bagalkot, Bijapur and Raichur, the worst affected districts of Karnataka, more than 4,000 people have been left homeless after their villages submerged in flash floods. Eleven relief camps have been opened for the homeless.
Relief operations are also under way in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district which was badly affected by the weekend rains.
In Afghanistan officials say floods and landslides have caused deaths in the provinces of Kunar and Kunduz and damaged housing in other provinces.
