India Monsoon Leaves at Least 200 Dead
28/07/2005| IslamWeb
India's financial capital was paralyzed Wednesday by the strongest rains ever recorded in the nation, with torrential downpours marooning drivers, snapping communication lines and leaving at least 200 people dead statewide.
At its worst, the rainfall descended in what looked like a solid wall of water, overwhelming Bombay, a crowded city long accustomed to monsoon rains.
"Never before in Bombay's history has this happened," said Police Commissioner A.N. Roy. "Our first priority is to rescue people stranded in floods."
"Approximately 200 dead bodies have already been recovered in the state," deputy chief minister R.R. Patil told The Associated Press, saying an additional 100 deaths were feared across Maharashtra state, where Bombay is the capital.
At least 83 people have died in Bombay, crushed by falling walls, trapped in cars or electrocuted since the most intense rains swept through the city Tuesday evening, Patil said. Phone networks collapsed, highways were blocked and the city's airports, among the nation's busiest, were closed.
While Wednesday's precipitation was still being totaled, officials said parts of the city had been hit by up to 37.1 inches of rain Tuesday, much of it falling over just a few hours.
India's previous heaviest rainfall, recorded in the northeastern town of Cherrapunji one of the rainiest places on Earth was 33 inches on July 12, 1910, said R.V. Sharma, director of the meteorological department in Bombay.
Across Bombay, traffic was backed up all night and into Wednesday, with drivers abandoning their vehicles on roads turned into waist-high rivers. At one point, according to state-run All India Radio, about 150,000 people were stranded in railway stations.
Others stayed for hours on buses and trains surrounded by swirling water.
"We were stuck in a bus all through the night with nothing to eat or drink. It was impossible to get out because there was water all around," said Yamini Patil, a government employee.
PHOTO CAPTION