200 killed in record monsoon rains in India

BOMBAY, India -- Authorities said Wednesday they had recovered at least 200 bodies in western India after the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the country shut down the financial hub of Bombay, snapped communication lines and marooned thousands of people in the past two days.\nThe bodies were found in Maharashtra state, where Bombay is located.\n"Approximately 200 dead bodies have already been recovered in the state," R.R. Patil, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state told The Associated Press. The figure includes 83 deaths in Bombay.\nAnother 100 people are feared dead across the state, which has been pounded by incessant rainfall since Tuesday.\nHundreds more have been killed by monsoon rains in the past two months, officials said.\nSome of Wednesday's victims were electrocuted or trapped in cars while others drowned in swirling floodwaters or were buried by falling walls.\nPatil said rescue teams have begun distributing food packets and drinking water to those affected.\nThe torrential rains shut down Bombay, the capital of Maharashtra state, closing airports and train stations.\nTroops were deployed after sudden rains -- measuring up to 37.1 inches in one day --stranded tens of thousands in suburban Bombay.\nIndia's previous heaviest rainfall, recorded at Cherrapunji in the northeastern Meghalaya state -- one of the rainiest places on Earth -- was 33 inches on July 12, 1910.\n"Most places in India don't receive this kind of rainfall in a year. This is the highest ever recorded in India's history," R.V. Sharma, director of the meteorological department in Bombay, told The Associated Press.\nThe heavy seasonal rains that had washed away tens of thousands of homes, along with roads, railway tracks and bridges.\nEarly Wednesday, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the state's top elected official, ordered a two--day holiday and called the army, navy and home guards to help with relief.\n"Inflatable rafts will be used to reach stranded people. Please try to stay where you are and don't leave your homes," he said.\nThe state-run All India Radio reported about 150,000 people were stranded in rail stations across Bombay.\nHundreds of children spent the night in suburban schools.\nMany travelers abandoned cars on roads after they stalled in water. Others stayed for more than nine hours on buses surrounded by swirling water on Bombay's main highways.\n"We were stuck in a bus all through the night with nothing to eat or drink. It was impossible to get out because there was water all around," said Yamini Patil, a government employee.\nThe domestic and international airports in Bombay, among the busiest in the country, were shut down Tuesday, and all incoming flights were diverted to New Delhi and other airports.\n"Never before in Bombay's history has this happened," said Bombay's Police Commissioner A.N. Roy. "Our first priority is to rescue people stranded in floods."\nState police reported new landslides in Maharashtra's Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, and Kolhapur areas.\nMore than 76,000 farm animals have been killed and more than 1.72 million acres of crops had been destroyed, officials said.