AHMEDABAD, India - Authorities in India's flood-hit western state of Gujarat have moved tens of thousands of people to higher ground as more heavy rain caused rivers to rise, officials have said.

The new alert comes days after a first wave of flooding killed at least 65 people and caused widespread damage in Gujarat's Surat city.

"Fifty thousand people have been evacuated in the past 72 hours," said Rajesh Bhatt, deputy chief fire officer who was supervising relief work in Gujarat's commercial capital Ahmedabad, on Wednesday.

A state irrigation department official said levels at the Dharoi dam, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Ahmedabad on the Sabarmati River, were near the danger mark.

"At present it is less than three feet (0.91 metres) below the danger mark," said the official who wished to remain unidentified.

He said the department was planning to release 100,000 cubic metres (3.5 million cubic feet) of water per second in phases on Wednesday.

"So people living along the riverbanks have been asked to move out to safer places," he said.

Reports said heavy rain in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan -- all bordering Gujarat -- had caused the Sardar Sarovar reservoir on the Narmada River to overflow.

The Press Trust of India news agency said residents of some central and southern districts of Gujarat had also been warned following the release of water from the Kadana dam on the Mahi River.