Mumbai — Heavy monsoon rains brought India’s financial capital to a grinding halt on Tuesday, with authorities struggling to evacuate people before a high tide was expected to add to the chaos. Although Mumbai is trying to build itself into a global financial centre, parts of the city struggle to cope during annual monsoon rains. Floods have killed more than 1,000 people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh in recent weeks and forced millions from their homes in the region’s worst monsoon disaster in recent years. As the meteorological department warned that the Mumbai rains would continue for the next 24 hours, many offices sent staff home early, fearing a repeat of 2005 floods that also killed more than 1,000 people. The majority of deaths occurred in slums, which are home to more than half of Mumbai’s population. Incessant rain flooded low-lying areas of Mumbai and paralysed train services used by hundreds of thousands of commuters daily, with many stranded at stations. Poor visibility...
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