GUWAHATI: Indian officials say the death toll in heavy monsoon rains has climbed past 90, with over 700,000 taking shelter in government-run relief camps.

Incessant downpours have damaged swaths of land and snapped telephone cables in dozens of districts in the states of Bihar in the east, Assam in the remote northeast and Himachal Pradesh in the north.

A total of 96 people have been killed in the rains in the three states over the past week, according to state officials.

Assam state Forest and Environment Minister Pramilla Rani Brahma said Tuesday that at least 17 rhinos have been killed due to rains flooding vast tracts of the state's Kaziranga National Park.

The heavy monsoon rains have come after two straight years of drought in India.