Incessant monsoon rains battered India’s financial capital on Monday, flooding roads, disrupting air traffic, and even inundating the famous Juhu residence of Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan.
According to Reuters, parts of Mumbai received more than 140mm of rainfall since Monday morning, leading to massive traffic jams as vehicles stalled on waterlogged roads. Authorities shut schools and issued a red alert for Mumbai and nearby districts, including Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Palghar.
Videos widely shared on social media showed knee-deep water inside and outside Bachchan’s residence, Prateeksha, with a car stranded in the flooded driveway. In one clip, a bystander remarked, “Money or fame, Mumbai rains spare no one – not Ambani, not Amitabh Bachchan.”
The rains also caused infrastructure damage. In a southern district, three people were injured late Sunday night when a two-storey building’s staircase collapsed.
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Local train services, flights and traffic were severely disrupted. At least nine incoming flights aborted landing at Mumbai airport, NDTV reported, though it was unclear if they were diverted elsewhere.
The India Meteorological Department forecast more downpours through Tuesday, urging residents to stay indoors.
Prateeksha, one of the most sentimental of the Bachchan properties, was gifted to the actor and his wife Jaya by filmmaker Ramesh Sippy after the success of Sholay in 1976, later purchased by the family. Both Shweta and Abhishek Bachchan were born there. The bungalow, recently valued at over Rs500 million, was transferred to Shweta Bachchan.
Elsewhere in India, heavy monsoon rains have killed dozens and inundated villages in the Himalayan belt over the past two weeks.
