run All India Radio reported about 150,000 people were stranded in railway stations across Bombay. Early Wednesday, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra's top elected official, ordered a two-day holiday and called the army, navy and home guards to help with relief. "Inflatable rafts will be used to reach stranded people. Please try to stay where you are and don't leave your homes," he said. Roads were choked all night as tens of thousands of people were stranded, and the two main highways were inundated. The domestic and international airports in Bombay, among the busiest in the country, have been shut down since Tuesday evening, and all incoming flights were being diverted to New Delhi and other airports. India's previous heaviest rainfall, recorded at Cherrapunji in the northeastern Meghalaya state _ one of the rainiest places on Earth _ was 83.82 centimeters (33 inches) on July 12, 1910, Sharma said. "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." State police reported new landslides in Maharashtra's Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, and Kolhapur areas. Details weren't immediately available. Rescuers started arriving Tuesday night in Kondivali village, 150 kilometers (95 miles) south of Bombay, hoping to extricate nearly 100 people trapped there, said police officer S. Jadav. At least 30 more people were feared buried in another mudslide in the nearby village of Jui. "We have no information from them, all lines are dead," said another officer P. Ranade. The Press Trust of India news agency reported at least 34 people were killed in landslides in Kondivali, and another 20 elsewhere in Maharashtra. PTI quoted Kerala state administrator Sunil Jadhav as saying eight people were killed in landslides there. India's monsoon rains, which usually last from June through September, claim hundreds of lives every year. More than 230 deaths have been reported earlier this season.
