MUMBAI (Reuters) – Heavy rains flooded roads and railway tracks on Monday in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, pushing authorities to shut some schools and colleges, while overflowing rivers in the northeastern state of Assam affected more than 2 million people.
More than 300 mm (11.8 inches) rain lashed Mumbai in a six-hour duration till 7.00 a.m (0130 GMT), Mumbai’s municipal body said, adding that more heavy showers are forecast later in the day.
Morning rush-hour traffic piled up on the Eastern and Western Express highways in the city and the Central Railway said it cancelled some long-distance trains due to water on tracks.
The heavy downpour in Mumbai came days after record-breaking showers in national capital Delhi, which caused a fatal airport roof-collapse.
Torrential monsoon rains have also triggered floods and landslides in the northern and eastern parts of the country, as well as in neighbouring Nepal where at least 11 people were killed.
More than 2 million people have been affected by floods in multiple rivers in Assam, where the Kaziranga National Park – home to the rare one-horned rhino – was also inundated with six rhinos drowned, local authorities said on Sunday.
Authorities said at least 66 people have died in floods and rain related incidents in the state since May.
Flooding has also affected 31 villages in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh on the border with Nepal, the state government said.
(Reporting by Dhwani Pandya and Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai, Tora Agarwala in Guwahati, Saurabh Sharma and Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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