Contributed by: filbert Sunday, July 31 2005 @ 09:02 AM CST
Most of the deaths were caused by landslides and flooding after Tuesday’s torrential rains cut off the state from the rest of the country. Rainfall was as much as 37 inches in parts of Bombay.
Observations from a columnist who is there[*2] .
It was a sight that I had never imagined possible. The airport highway, the main artery that connects Bombay to other cities, had come to resemble a river. The water was neck-deep. Cars were submerged. Cows and buffaloes struggled unsuccessfully to stay above the water level. And everywhere I looked, there were people: ordinary, decent people faced with no option but to brave the water and to walk home, no matter how far the distance or how great the risk.