Because of the strong monsoon rains in Mumbai, 14 people died, among them two small children. The rains caused a transport collapse in the financial capital of India and destroyed houses.
More than 1,200 people died in India, Bangladesh and Nepal in the worst floods in South Asia over the years. Several villages in the eastern Indian state of Bihar are still flooded, people live in temporary shelters. Downpours caused a huge damage to the crop.
Yesterday’s flood in Mumbai – almost monthly rainfall, dropped out in one day – suspended railway traffic and caused the cancellation of a number of flights. Today traffic has been restored. The government closes schools and colleges, but in many parts of the city the showers are weaker.
Police reported that a 45-year-old woman and one and a half-year-old child, members of the same family, were killed when their house in the north-eastern suburb of Mumbai Vicroli collapsed. A two-year-old girl died when the wall collapsed.
In the neighboring town of Thana, 3 people were killed, carried away by flood waters.
Some died by falling into open sewer hatches on flooded streets in various suburbs of Mumbai.
Police spokesman Mumbai Rashmi Karandikar said that 7 people were missing in the city. In the neighboring suburbs, six people are missing.
The flood revived memories of the floods of 2005, which killed more than 500 people. Most of them were slum dwellers, where more than half of the city’s 20 million people live.
Continuous construction in floodplain meadows and coastal areas, as well as clogged with rainwater collectors and water outlets, make the city increasingly vulnerable to storms.