India's Mumbai hit by heavy flooding

MUMBAI: Heavy rainfall left parts of the Indian city of Mumbai underwater on Monday, flooding homes, closing schools and badly affecting train services.

The Indian Metereological Department said that 178.6 millimetres (7.03 inches) of rain fell in the 24 hours to 8:30 am local time (0300 GMT) in the south of the city, while 232.6 mm was recorded in the suburbs.

Heavy rain has lashed India's financial and entertainment capital virtually non-stop since Friday, with the annual monsoon rainy season drawing to a close next month.

Train services were worst affected by the downpours, with the Central Railway only able to operate about 10 percent of its scheduled 1,573 daily services since midnight, spokesman Male Gaonkar told AFP.

Shuttle bus services were replacing trains in some areas, while pumps have been deployed along tracks to get rid of excess water, he added.

"It will take a little time to get back to normal," Gaonkar added.

"We have about 3.8 million daily commuters, so a substantial number will be affected."

An estimated seven million people use the Central and Western railways every day.

Flooding is an annual hazard during the monsoon in Mumbai, particularly in low-lying areas, making roads in parts of the city impassable and reducing traffic to a halt in others.

In 2005, more than 400 people died in Mumbai after a record 944 mm of rain fell in just 24 hours, causing severe flooding. Neglected drainage and blocked waterways were blamed for contributing to the disaster.

On Monday, the local authority shut state-run schools while dozens of people were evacuated from their homes near the Mithi river, as water levels rose, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The city's domestic and international airports, however, were not affected by the weather, although four outbound and two inbound flights from the southern city of Kochi were cancelled, said spokeswoman Anindita Sinha.

Kochi airport was shut after a Gulf Air-operated flight from Bahrain skidded to a halt on landing in wet weather conditions and veered onto muddy grassland early on Monday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011