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Parts of Mumbai under water
05/07/2006 13:07 - (SA)
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| People walk through a flooded street in Mumbai after a second straight day of torrential rain flooded much of the city. (Aijaz Rahi, AP) |
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Mumbai - Large parts of India's western financial hub of Mumbai were under water on Wednesday as the weather bureau warned further heavy rains were on the way and the death toll from this week's deluge rose to seven.
Residents of the city, which Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in 2004 could become a financial centre rivalling Shanghai, were forced to wade through ankle deep water as workers battled to clear drains clogged with plastic bags and other debris.
The Mumbai municipality was meanwhile lambasted by the high court for its failure to tackle flooding of low-lying areas caused by the monsoon rains which have been lashing the city since Saturday.
The court, responding to a public interest litigation, said it appeared from the massive disruption of normal life in the city - especially on Tuesday - that the municipality had done little planning for coping with heavy rains.
Criticism
Last July, the corporation came in for severe criticism from residents and politicians for being caught unprepared for flash floods which killed more than 400 people in the teeming city of 18 million people.
The weather office said Mumbai had 44.4cm of rain on Tuesday and another 7.5cm by mid-morning on Wednesday.
It warned more "heavy to very heavy showers" were on the way and that "extremely heavy" rains were also possible.
The authorities said they had at least managed to keep traffic flowing.
"Our staff continues to be on around the clock alert. We could see another wet day today, however none of the major roads are waterlogged and traffic is moving normally," Mumbai's municipal commissioner Johny Joseph told AFP.
Death toll
Mumbai police chief AN Roy said the death toll in the rains since Saturday had risen to seven.
Two people were electrocuted while two street dwellers were crushed by a falling tree. Three children drowned while playing in well in a northern suburb, he said.
The deaths brought to at least 232 the number who have died across India as a result of rains and high winds since the start of the monsoon in May.
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