Torrential rains lashed Mumbai yesterday, disrupting flights, hampering rescue efforts and bringing more misery as officials said the death toll from the heaviest downpours in the Indian city's history neared 1,000. 

Flooding and landslides had so far claimed 969 lives in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra State since the rain began last Monday, with 47 more bodies being recovered overnight, police and government officials said.

In Raigarh District, 150 kilometers south of Mumbai, at least 200 are dead or missing.

"The death toll in Raigarh is likely to go up by another 100 or so because more dead bodies are coming up. It (the total) may touch around 1,000, including about 400 deaths in Bombay (Mumbai)," said Krishna Vatsa, Maharashtra's relief commissioner.

"It's raining and this will hamper the relief distribution and search operations," added Vatsa.

In Mumbai alone, hundreds have died in the city of over 15 million since Tuesday due to landslides, drowning, electrocution in flooded streets and even by suffocating in their cars as they waited out the rains for many hours.

The driving rain disrupted rail and air services, officials said, as the local weather office forecast "moderate to heavy rains in the next 24 hours" and the authorities appealed to residents not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.

Airlines under huge pressure

Incoming flights were routed to nearby destinations while outbound flights were cancelled due to poor visibility caused by the rain.

International and domestic flights resumed later in the day when the downpour eased.

Mumbai's airport -- India's busiest -- had been closed for two days last week due to torrential rains with flights resuming late Thursday.

"Poor visibility because of the rains has hit flights. Airlines have a huge backlog of pending flights and waiting passengers," said Indian Airlines spokesperson M. Swaminathan.

"There is tremendous pressure on airlines."

On Saturday, an Air India plane carrying more than 300 passengers skidded off the runway and became bogged down in soft ground.

Train schedules remained disrupted or cancelled yesterday, said rail officials.

Fresh rains again flooded low-lying suburban areas, where water was lying knee-deep, and police issued traffic alerts urging people not to travel on certain routes.

Large swathes of the city of 15 million lay under water after 944.2 millimeters of rainfall fell in a one-day period ending mid-morning Wednesday, the most rainfall ever recorded in a single day in India.

But from Thursday the waters began dropping, leaving, however, mounds of rotting rubbish and thousands of bloated carcasses of cows, oxen and goats.

Despite yesterday's rain, soldiers, police and rescue workers pressed on with "Operation Recovery," using bulldozers, cranes and bare hands to remove boulders and rubble from areas hit by landslides earlier in the week, with scores still feared buried under the mud.

Naval officers have joined in the rescue operations, a navy spokesman said.

Separately, some 130,000 municipal workers were engaged in repairing pot-holed roads and clogged drains and restoring electricity and drinking water.

Police officials spread out in the city and used loud hailers to urge residents to stay at home and take no heed of rumors.

Rumours of tsunamis

"They are telling us not to believe in any false reports and contact them to confirm any rumor that is doing the rounds," said Sanjay Kumar, a resident of the northern suburb of Thane.

Police chief A.N. Roy said the step was a "precautionary" one.

"The rumors have to be stopped and we are taking every step towards that direction. There is no reason for panic," he said.

On Thursday, 18 people died in a stampede created by rumors of storm-created tsunamis.

A total of around 10,000 Mumbai residents took to the streets in various parts of the city on Saturday to protest against an acute shortage of drinking water and power blackouts, officials said.

Worst affected was the central Mumbai area of Kurla where residents said they had been without power for five consecutive days.

Johny Joseph, the municipal commissioner of Mumbai, admitted "the administration is stretched and continuing rains are proving to be hurdle," in restoring civic services.

"The latest spell (of rains) will definitely hamper our efforts," said Joseph. "But the administration will continue doing our job and we hope to clear tonnes of garbage piled on the roads by (the end of) Sunday."

Health officials said they were prepared to fight an outbreak of waterborne diseases and were taking preventive steps.

S.G. Danle, deputy municipal commissioner of Mumbai, said 30,000 health workers were working in the city and suburbs informing people how to prevent outbreaks of disease.

(China Daily August 1, 2005)