KOLKATA, India, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Heavy rains shut down schools and disrupted transport in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Friday, as bad weather hit relief supplies to victims of one of the worst floods in the region in years.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless or marooned across densely populated eastern India and Bangladesh due to flooding since mid-July. More than 870 people have died.

The misery of flood victims in some areas has been made worse by a poor relief effort, with people rioting over lack of aid in the Indian states of West Bengal and Bihar.

Shops in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal, did not open on Friday as torrential rains pounded the city for a third day, and waterlogged streets kept most people at home. Many trains were also delayed.

"We just about managed to pump out water that had flooded our homes last month, but we are back to square one now," said Rupali Dutta, a resident of Kolkata.

In the state's West Midnapore district, flood victims attacked officials and damaged government buildings, complaining they had not received food or potable water for days.

In the neighbouring state of Bihar, fresh flooding in some areas hampered relief work and hungry residents clashed with police and looted food, officials said.

DEADLY LANDSLIDE

One in six people in Bihar -- one of India's poorest states with 90 million residents -- has been affected by the flooding.

"We think god is angry at us or why would we have so much misery?" said Kunti Devi, a resident of Sitamarhi district. "We are hungry and dying now."

Further north, in the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh, rescuers found three bodies in an area where around 60 people were believed to have died in a landslide. A total of seven bodies have been recovered.

"It seems there won't be any survivors, but we can only tell the exact number of the dead once the debris is removed," said Vidya Chand Sagar, a police officer.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, the death toll from floods rose to 536 with 20 more deaths reported overnight, the health ministry said.

More than half of the low-lying, densely populated nation of 140 million people is covered by flood water, and thousands of people are suffering from diarrhoea, officials said.

Some people in crowded shelters do not want to go back to their flood-hit neighbourhoods.

"It is impossible to live there," Ferdousi Begum said of her flooded home on Dhaka's outskirts.

"There is nothing but mud and it stinks. There is no house, no food," said Begum, adding her house had collapsed.

Monsoon rains are an annual phenomenon in South Asia. Though they often bring death and destruction, they are vital for food productivity and overall economic growth.

(Additional reporting by Geetinder Garewal in Chandigarh, Ruma Paul and Azad Majumdar in Dhaka)

REUTERS