Extremely heavy rain floods Mumbai, killing at least 4 people

At least four people have been killed over the past 24 hours as heavy monsoon rains hit Mumbai, the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 12.4 million.

In 24 hours to 08:30 local time, June 25, a weather station at Santa Cruz observatory in Mumbai recorded a staggering 231.4 mm (9.11 inches) of rain, almost half the average amount expected during the entire month of June.

So much rainfall is categorized as extremely heavy showers, IMD's Mumbai Director said. 

"This is the first extremely heavy rainfall recorded in Mumbai in the current season. The rain intensity has gone up since yesterday afternoon and is expected to continue further," he said.

Two people were killed and 5 were injured on June 24 after being hit by a falling tree. In a separate incident, a young boy died after falling into an open pit in the suburb of Malad. The fourth casualty is a child, killed when a wall of its home collapsed on June 25.

Another severe incident occurred in Mumbai's Wadala area where a large section of a wall at an apartment complex collapsed, crushing at least 20 parked vehicles. Luckily, there were no casualties reported. The city's civic body and firemen evacuated an entire wing of the building, home of several bankers and businessmen.

Locals said that construction work next door weakened the boundary wall of the parking area, which gave away in the rain.

"We had alerted the authorities but no action was taken. The wall collapsed this morning after heavy rain," one of the residents told NDTV.

Traffic across the city was severely affected as well as flights at Mumbai airport.

Skymet Weather meteorologists said Mumbai is expected to witness heavy to very heavy rains during the next 12 hours. 

Featured image credit: NDTV