MUMBAI, 1 July 2007 — Heavy rains lashed Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra yesterday, killing five people and disrupting life in the metropolis. The rains inundated several parts of the city and normal life was disrupted with road, rail and air transport thrown out of gear. Water logging was reported in all parts of Mumbai. Worse, officials forecast high tide in the evening.

The rains also submerged other parts of western Maharashtra forcing the state government to call the army for help.

All flights to and from Mumbai were canceled for much of yesterday.

“Several incoming flights to Mumbai — both domestic and international — have been diverted to other airports like Ahmedabad and Delhi. Outbound flights, which had been delayed, have now been either postponed or rescheduled,” an airport official said here.

Flights resumed late in the afternoon, though most roads to the airport were still waterlogged.

The flooding of railroad tracks forced authorities to suspend services on the central rail line, considered the lifeline of the city.

“All trains from Kurla to Chhatrapti Shivaji Terminus in south Mumbai have been suspended due to flooding of tracks at many points,” a railroad spokesperson told IANS.

According to meteorological department officials, Mumbai has received around 395mm of rain since yesterday morning, submerging several parts of the city. “The incessant rain have flooded many low-lying areas in Matunga, Sion, Worli, Lower Parel in central Mumbai, Chembur and Wadala in the eastern suburbs and Bandra, Andheri and Borivali in the western suburbs,” an official at the Mumbai disaster management cell said.

The department said heavy rains would continue to lash Mumbai for the next couple of days. Most roads across the city were waterlogged and vehicular traffic was badly affected. However, officials said the state-run BEST buses were still plying on most routes.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has urged people to stay indoors as a high tide of about four meters is expected this afternoon. Fishermen have also been asked not to venture out to sea.

“We have pressed into service all pumping stations to drain out water from flooded areas in central, south Mumbai and western, and eastern suburbs since the morning,” said a BMC official.

He, however, admitted that it would be a daunting task to pump out the water before evening with the possibility of seawater entering the city.

Power was cut in various suburbs of Mumbai, particularly in low lying areas, as a precautionary measure to avoid electrocution.

The army has been called out to aid rescue operations in the flooded Konkan region of western Maharashtra, especially Raigad district where two people were killed in a landslide and over 1,000 people have already been evacuated, an official said.

Mahad town in Raigad was under five feet of water due to the downpour since late Friday. Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara in the Konkan region are also experiencing heavy rainfall. Highways in the region have been badly affected and traffic has been stalled at several points. Along the entire Konkan coast, fishermen have been asked not venture out to sea until today.

Off the coast of Andhra Pradesh state, at least eight fishermen from Myanmar and Thailand were feared drowned after two fishing trawlers sank in a tropical storm. Over 50,000 people living in low lying areas of Andhra Pradesh were shifted to safety during the storm.

The onset of the rainy season has brought severe weather to much of South Asia, killing more than 500 people in storms and floods in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan over the past week.