Monsoon Death Toll in Western India Passes 900

The death toll from last week’s massive flooding in and around Bombay reached 910 Sunday as Indian soldiers, civil defense teams and aid workers continued to find bodies in the hardest-hit districts.

More than 100 more corpses were recovered over the weekend, and officials said more were likely to be found in the flood-devastated Raigad district.

“The bodies are still coming out. There will be another 100 or so,” said K. Vatsa, rehabilitation secretary of the state of Maharashtra, of which Bombay is the capital. “The toll will definitely be around 1,000.”

Incessant rain and mounds of debris, boulders and mud mixed with the remains of people’s homes were making it difficult to retrieve the remaining bodies and hampering cleanup efforts and the distribution of food.

As many as 421 people were killed in the Bombay area alone -- most of them drowned, buried by landslides or electrocuted in rains that dumped a record 37 inches in 24 hours.

Authorities deployed health workers in the suburbs to distribute medicine and disinfectant to guard against waterborne diseases.

As fresh rains drenched the city, Bombay police issued an alert Sunday cautioning people to stay home because of rising water levels. “We’re asking people to travel only if essential,” said Bombay Police Chief A.N. Roy. Schools were closed in Bombay and three other districts.

Electricity was gradually being restored to many northern Bombay neighborhoods a day after angry demonstrators blocked traffic demanding the restoration of water and power supplies and the removal of garbage and animal carcasses.

About 25,000 sheep and goats and 2,500 buffaloes drowned in Bombay, officials said.