The strongest rainfall ever recorded in India shut down the financial center of Mumbai, snapped communication lines, closed airports and forced thousands of people to sleep in their offices or walk home during the night, officials reported yesterday.
Troops were deployed after the sudden rains -- measuring up to 944mm in one day in some areas of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra state -- stranded tens of thousands of people.
As the crisis raged, there was no word on some 130 people feared trapped in mudslides in two villages in the state.
"Most places in India don't receive this kind of rainfall in a year. This is the highest ever recorded in India's history," said R.V. Sharma, director of the meteorological department.
"We have to compare it with world records to find out if this was the highest in the world," he said.
At least 62 people died in Maharashtra and southern Kerala state in weather-related tragedies on Tuesday.
The state-run All India Radio reported about 150,000 people were stranded in railway stations across Mumbai, India's main financial center.
Early yesterday, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the state's top elected official, deployed the army, navy and home guard to assist with the relief effort.
"Inflatable rafts will be used to reach stranded people. Please try to stay where you are and don't leave your homes," he said.
Tens of thousands of people were stranded for hours on roads in Mumbai, and its airport -- one of the busiest in the country -- was shut on Tuesday evening.
All incoming flights were diverted to New Delhi and other airports.
India's previous heaviest rainfall, recorded at Cherrapunji in the northeastern Meghalaya state, one of the wettest places on Earth, was 838.2mm on July 12, 1910, Sharma said.
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