NEW DELHI, Sept. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Even as rains continue to wreak havoc in Andhra Pradesh of south India, the western region of the country Friday witnessed heavy torrential downpours, claiming 11 lives in Gujarat state, Press Trust of India reports.

    A high alert has been sounded across Gujarat Friday. Many people were shifted to safer places in Nasik in Maharashtra and Goa following incessant downpour.

    Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, the three Indian states, lie in the western region of the country.

    A high alert has been issued across Gujarat after 22 of the 25 districts of the state witnessed heavy downpour since Friday morning, Gujarat revenue minister Kaushik Patel said.

    People from 29 villages mainly in Vadodara, Panchmahals and Bharuch have been shifted to safer places, sources said.

    Rail traffic from Gujarat to Mumbai, India's financial capital,is running at a sluggish pace due to rains since last night, they said.

    According to PTI, in Nasik, heavy incessant rains continued to lash the city and other parts of Nasik district, flooding almost the entire district.

    The district administration has shifted hundreds of people to safer places.

    One child was drowned and scores of families evacuated from Sanquelim in north Goa, which was flooded due to heavy rains, PTI report said.

    Around 70 families have been moved to a nearby temple in Sanquelim area of north Goa since Thursday night.

    "We have also received reports of one child drowning in a gutter", north Goa collector Nikhil Kumar said in capital Panji.

    The downpour was caused mainly due to a cyclone hitting the Andhra Pradesh coast, meteorological department sources said forecasting more for the next 24 hours. Enditem