New Delhi  - At least three villagers were killed and nearly 1 million people were affected or displaced by floods in India's eastern coastal state of Orissa, news reports said Thursday.

Orissa relief official Benudhar Das told the IANS news agency that three people died in house collapses in the Bhadrak and Jajpur districts.

Local media, however, put the death toll across the state at 10.

As flooding caused by two days of heavy rains inundated large swathes of land in 12 of Orissa's 30 districts, the number of people affected would be close to 1 million, Das added.

More than 30,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas to safer places, local officials added.

The state administration has closed schools in flooded regions where road and rail traffic, communications and electrical service have been disrupted.

Trees and crops were damaged in the coastal areas after squalls with wind of up to 65 kilometres per hour.

Meanwhile, heavy monsoon rains have hit the southern Saurashtra region in the western state of Gujarat.

Nearly 30 villages were marooned in Surendranagar district and the administration has evacuated about 3,000 people to safer places, the NDTV network reported.

A total of 2,182 people have died this year in 15 of India's 29 states in floods brought on by annual monsoon rains that last from June to the end of September, according to government data.

Flooding in the eastern state of Bihar has improved with the levels of major rivers, including the Kosi, receding.

The death toll there stands at 208 with nearly 4.4 million people affected.

Thousands of victims have been instructed to stay in relief camps and not to head back to their villages because water-borne diseases could break out in the flood-hit areas. (dpa)