BOMBAY, 1 August 2005 — Authorities advised people to stay at home as incessant rains lashed the metropolitan Bombay and its suburbs again yesterday hampering rescue efforts.
Reports of heavy rains also came from other parts of the western Maharshtra state bringing more misery as the death toll from the heaviest downpours in history neared 1,000.
The driving rain disrupted rail and air services, officials said, as the authorities issued new flood alerts and appealed to residents to stay home.
“Heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong gusty winds is expected in the city and suburbs. The forecast is valid until Monday morning,” a spokesman for the Bombay Meteorological Department said. “Heavy rainfall is also expected to occur in Maharashtra and neighboring states during the next 48 hours.” Low-lying suburban areas of the city were again flooded knee-deep as police urged people not to travel on certain routes. Many trees were uprooted across the city.
Flooding and landslides had so far claimed 969 lives in Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra since the rains began last Monday, with 47 more bodies being recovered overnight, police and government officials said.
Flooding had again occurred in the district of Raigad, 170 kilometers south of Bombay, where seven major landslides last week buried scores of people.
Incoming flights at Bombay’s airport — India’s busiest — were routed to nearby destinations while outbound flights were canceled due to poor visibility. International and domestic flights resumed later in the day when the downpour eased.
The airport was closed for two days last week due to torrential rains with flights resuming late Thursday. On Saturday an Air-India plane carrying more than 300 passengers skidded off the runway and became bogged down.
Train schedules remained disrupted or canceled yesterday, rail officials said.
Large swathes of the city of 15 million lay under water after 944.2 millimeters (37.1 inches) of rainfall fell in a one-day period ending mid-morning Wednesday, the most rainfall ever recorded in a single day in India.
But from Thursday the waters began dropping, leaving mounds of rotting garbage and thousands of bloated carcasses of cows, oxen and goats.
