People wade through on a flooded street after torrential rains paralyzed Mumbai on July 27. The city received 944.2 millimeters (37.1 inches) of rainfall on July 27, the heaviest ever in a single day. Over 370 people were killed in Mumbai alone, while nearly 750 died in Maharashtra. (Photo: AFP)

Mumbai (IANS) : Paralyzed by the worst rains in 100 years, India’s financial and entertainment capital limped back to normalcy on July 28 with the resumption of air and inter-city train services.

The torrential rains that turned the city into a virtual sea and killed over 370 people had also forced Mumbai’s domestic and international airports to shut down since July 26.

Lauding the residents of Mumbai for their resilience, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 28 offered flood-ravaged Maharashtra a total of Rs. 7 billion ($159.09 million) for relief and rehabilitation operations after carrying out an aerial survey of the areas hit by the floods.

Nearly 750 people across Maharashtra lost their lives in the partly natural, partly man-made disaster, as Mumbai underwent devastation unprecedented even by the standards of a city whose streets routinely get flooded every monsoon.

In Mumbai, among the worst affected areas were Bandra, Mahim, Matunga, Dadar, Santa Cruz, Byculla, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Mulund, Thane and Badlapur.

“This kind of rainfall is the first in Mumbai’s history. It is an unprecedented crisis,” admitted Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Desperate authorities declared a two-day holiday and asked people to remain indoors as they tried to cope with the unprecedented downpour measuring 944 mm.

HEAVIEST 24-HOUR RAINFALL IN INDIA

# Amindivi, Lakshadweep          1168 mm       May 6, 2004 # Cherrapunji, Meghalaya         1036 mm       June 14, 1876 # Cherrapunji, Meghalaya         998 mm       July 12, 1910 # Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh      996 mm       June 18, 1899 # Mausimram, Meghalaya           989 mm       July 10, 1952 # Dharampur, Gujarat             987 mm       July 2, 1941 # Cherrapunji, Meghalaya        985 mm       Sept. 13, 1974 # Mumbai, Maharashtra        944 mm       July 26, 2005

“I have lived here for almost 50 years and I have not seen anything like this,” said Shanti Narayan, 60, a retired bank employee in Thane on July 27. “My son and daughter-in-law walked for five and a half hours to reach home by midnight, wading through knee deep water. “We have got no milk today, no newspapers, no shops are open. You can imagine what we are going through,” Narayan told Indo-Asian News Service, speaking over mobile telephone,

A stampede that occurred on July 28 in Nehru Nagar, near the northern city suburb Juhu, caused the death of 18 people. The incident took place after rumors of a tsunami hitting the shores spread like wildfire in the city suburbs. Panicky people rushed out of their homes in Nehru Nagar and crowded the narrow exit route. Residents toppled over each other in the rush to get out in the streets. Unavailability of power in the slum area due to incessant rain compounded the problem.

The intensity of the rains notwithstanding, the nation’s financial nerve center waged a gallant effort to restore a semblance of normalcy.

An Indian Airlines flight to Delhi took off from the local airport at 1.30 p.m. on July 28 after authorities closely monitored all navigation and ground handling equipment, said an aviation official.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said normal aviation services to and from Mumbai, one of the country’s busiest airports, were likely to resume on July 29. Jet Airways, the country’s leading private sector domestic carrier, operated 36 flights on July 28 linking Mumbai with other parts of the country. Inter-city trains, considered the lifeline of this city of 15 million people, resumed normal operations on July 28 even as many long-distance trains were cancelled due to flooding of tracks.

The resumption of normal operations of local electric trains, used by a third of the city residents every day, came as a major relief. Railway stations had become temporary shelters for thousands after train services were cancelled. The telephone network in Mumbai, home to the Reserve Bank of India, Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange, were completely snapped for two days after heavy rains lashed the city.

In New Delhi, Parliament on July 28 mourned the death of the victims of the Maharashtra floods and a deadly fire in the Bombay High platform of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in Mumbai (Read the story below). “The house expresses deep anguish over the calamities,” Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said before beginning the day’s proceedings in the lower house. “We express our deep sense of condolence.”