BOMBAY, 2 August 2005 — More rains lashed Bombay yesterday as the city battled to recover from its worst-ever recorded deluge, with the death toll rising beyond the 1,000-mark.
The city’s police chief appealed to residents to stay indoors as meteorologists forecast “heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong gusty winds” over the next 24 hours in Maharashtra state.
Rescue workers found the bodies of 24 more victims of floods and landslides, bringing the state death toll to over 1,000 since the rains began on July 25, police said.
Some 409 of them have died in Bombay, the country’s business and entertainment capital.
But Bombay officials said the city of 15 million people was limping back to normal even though some low-lying areas remained knee-deep in water.
Flights out of Bombay airport, India’s busiest, were delayed but returning to normal, airline officials said.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel urged visitors to avoid the city unless absolutely necessary.
“There are gusty winds making landings and take-offs difficult,” a ministry spokesman said. On Saturday an Air-India plane carrying over 300 passengers skidded off the runway but no one was hurt. The airport was shut for two days last week.
Schools and colleges remained shut but India’s leading stock market, the Bombay stock exchange, banks and offices were open. However attendance was spotty as employees struggled into work, sloshing through puddles and facing big delays in commuter train services.
“There’s some waterlogging in the traditional low-lying areas of the city,” said Bombay police chief A.N. Roy. “There’s no reason to panic (but) I advise people to remain indoors.” He said rescue teams were battling rough weather to reach victims of landslides and flooding, adding “In some parts, it’s proving very tough.” Rescue workers were pressing on with “Operation Recovery,” using bulldozers, cranes and bare hands to remove rubble from areas hit by landslides and clear mounds of garbage and bloated animal carcasses left by the receding waters.
Analysts said the rains have caused such severe damage to the heavily industrialized state that a government forecast of seven percent growth for the year ending March 2006 may need to be cut to six percent.
As heavy rains continued to lash Pune, western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarba regions for the third day, the district administration declared red alert and evacuated 3,000 families from the low-lying areas along the Mula and Mutha river banks, as a precautionary measure, as all the three major dams at Khadakvasala, Mulshi and Pavana, were over flowing and the administration was compelled to release 77,000 cusec of water to ease the pressure.
