Mumbai Disrupted by Extreme Monsoon Rains

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MUMBAI (BOMBAY): July 27 (Bloomberg) - Flooding killed 99 people in

India's Maharashtra state and paralyzed the financial capital Mumbai

for a second day. Record rainfall forced the closure of the airport

and train system, used by a third of the city's 16 million people.

 

Suburban trains and city buses haven't yet resumed full services

following a 24-hour shutdown. Flights from Mumbai airport, the

nation's biggest, were due to resume at 4 p.m. local time after

being suspended late yesterday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao

Deshmukh told reporters today.

 

About 6.1 million people ride Mumbai's trains each day, almost as

many as travel on all of New York City's subways, buses, trains and

ferries combined. The trains connect the suburbs to downtown Mumbai,

where the central bank, stock exchange and offices of companies such

as Reliance Industries Ltd. are located.

 

"We have never had such rains in 100 years," Deshmukh said. "This

was the rarest of the rare occasions, and no infrastructure would

have been sufficient to deal with it."

 

The floods and landslides killed at least 99 people in Maharashtra,

said Deshmukh, the chief minister, including 22 in Mumbai, the state

capital. The damage caused by flooding is estimated at 5 billion

rupees ($115 million), he said.

 

Losses may rise to twice that estimate, according to the Associated

Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, a business lobby group.

Flooding in Mumbai and neighboring Pune may have caused damage of as

much as 10 billion rupees, the group's president, Mahendra K.

Sanghi, said in an e-mailed statement.

 

Parts of Mumbai received a record 94.4 centimeters (37 inches) of

rain yesterday, A.B. Majumdar, director, forecast, at the India

Meteorological Department, said by telephone from Pune.

 

Navy helicopters were called in to aid the rescue effort in Mumbai,

said Johny Joseph, commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal

Corporation, which runs the city.

 

BUSINESS IMPACT

 

Government offices, schools and banks will be closed for a second

day tomorrow. The Mumbai stock exchange, which was open today,

hasn't announced plans to close.

 

The benchmark Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 0.7 percent to

7605.03, closing at a record for the fourth straight day. The

nation's bond and currency markets were closed.

 

"We told half of our people in the office here to go," said Paresh

Nayar, chief currency trader at Development Credit Bank Ltd. in

Mumbai. "There's no trading and if the rains continue, it's going to

be a bigger problem getting home."

 

STRANDED

 

"There was no way to rescue the people stranded in some of the

buildings in low-lying areas," he said. "We have pressed three boats

into service right now. We would also use navy helicopters to move

some people."

 

The Central Railway resumed services from Chattrapathi Shivaji

Terminus to Dadar, while the Western Railway is running trains

between Churchgate to Mahalaxmi station, he said.

 

Mumbai's trains carry more than 6 million passengers a day. New

York's subway, train and bus system carries about 2.4 billion

passengers each year, according to the Metropolitan Transportation

Authority's Web site.

 

Hotel lobbies in downtown Mumbai were crowded last night as stranded

commuters searched for a place to stay.

 

Vishal Goyal, an analyst at Alchemy Share and Stock Brokers, spent

eight hours in a traffic jam before abandoning his car 10 kilometers

from his office in Mumbai's south. He spent the rest of the night at

a friend's house, and this morning waded through waist-deep water to

Bandra station north of the city center.

 

"It could easily be 24 hours from the time we left the office," he

said. "The bigger concern now is catching an infection or an illness

walking through all this water."

 

FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS

 

The highway linking Mumbai with the airport was flooded, said police

spokesman B.D. Parande, cutting off access and stranding passengers

whose flights landed before the closure.

 

Jet Airways (India) Ltd., the nation's biggest domestic carrier,

canceled at least six flights to Mumbai from New Delhi late

yesterday, said Executive Director Saroj Datta.

 

Reliance Energy Ltd., one of the city's two power utilities,

yesterday cut supply to some flooded areas. The utility said it

restored supply to most customers today.

 

Government, railway and power utility help lines were inaccessible

earlier today, and mobile-phone networks were overwhelmed by callers

stranded by the rains.

 

Mobile-phone company Hutchison Essar Ltd. said it's still working to

repair 40 of the 100 cellular base stations that were affected by

power failures and flooding. The company has a total of 800 cellular

stations in the city.

 

"Hopefully by the end of today we will able to reach all these 40

sites," said Harit Nagpal, who heads the company's Mumbai

operations. "Some of these places are submerged or there are traffic

jams leading to the delay."

 

SOURCE: Bloomberg.com

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