Mumbaikars woe continues

Mumbai: Schools and colleges opened on Wednesday and lakhs of commuters clambered on to overcrowded trains to make a perilous journey to work as the rain subsided and India's Maximum City slowly returned to normalcy . A day after the heaviest rain since 2005 brought the country's financial capital to its knees, leading to a wall collapse in which 22 people were killed, the waters receded from several parts of the city.

As people in low-lying areas began to pick up the pieces from Tuesday's rain mayhem, clearing their homes of the sludge that had come with the waters, a Mumbai civic body official said public transport was normal.

Lakhs of citizens commuting on suburban trains had a tough time due to curtailed operations on certain routes. The heavy rush of passengers at various stations in morning peak hours prompted the Central Railway to revoke its earlier decision to operate train services in the Mumbai division according to the Sunday timetable in which fewer trains operate. The main runway at Mumbai airport is still closed and the secondary runway is being operated.

The death toll due to wall collapse in Pimpripada area of Malad East rose to 23 on Wednesday. Four school children were swept off in floodwaters in Maharashtra's Washim district and two of them were still missing, police said.