Record rainfall causes at least 200 deaths in India

AT least 200 bodies have been recovered in western India after the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the country.

"Around 200 bodies have already been recovered" in Maharashtra state, the state's deputy chief minister RR Patil, said.

He said the figure included 83 dead in Mumbai, the state capital and financial hub. Another 100 deaths were feared across the state, which has been pounded by incessant rainfall since Tuesday, he said.

The deaths were caused by electrocution, people getting trapped in cars, drowned in swirling flood waters, and buried by falling walls. The rain shut down the financial hub Mumbai, snapped communication lines, closed airports and marooned tens of thousands of people.

Troops were deployed after the sudden rains measuring up to 94.4cm in one day in suburban Mumbai.

"Most places in India don't receive this kind of rainfall in a year. This is the highest ever recorded in India's history," RV Sharma, director of the meteorological department in Mumbai, said.

India's previous heaviest rainfall, recorded at Cherrapunji in the north- eastern Meghalaya state one of the rainiest places on Earth was 83.82 centimetres on July 12, 1910, Sharma said.

India's Home Minister Shiraj Patil, meanwhile, told parliament yesterday that 633 people had died in monsoon-related incidents over the past two months.

Mr Patil said about 5.6 million people in 16,000 villages had been hit by the seasonal rains that had washed away tens of thousands of homes, with roads, railway tracks and bridges.

More than 76,000 farm animals have perished and more than 1.72 million acres of crops had been destroyed by the floodwaters.

At least 25 people drowned after being trapped in cars or being crushed by falling walls, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the state's top elected official, said yesterday.

It was unclear whether those 25 were included in the total for the entire state. Early yesterday, he ordered a two-day holiday and called the army, navy and home guards to help with relief.

The state-run All India Radio reported about 150,000 people were stranded in railway stations across Mumbai. The domestic and international airports in Mumbai, among the busiest in the country, have been shut down since Tuesday evening, and all incoming flights were being diverted to New Delhi and other airports.