More than 30 people have died in India’s Mumbai after an intense burst of rainfall caused a landslide and wall collapse. It was happened as changing monsoon patterns due to climate change lead to more extreme rains across India.
Heavy rainfall hammered down on India’s financial capital over the weekend, causing mass devastation. In the eastern suburb of Chembur, the collapse of a wall in the night led to a landslide that enveloped homes as people were sleeping and killed at least 21, according to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
At least 10 people were also killed in the suburb of Vikhroli in the city’s northeast when a landslide hit several homes, and three others in the city have died in separate incidents.
With heavy rainfall predicted for the next five days, the city is bracing itself for further casualties. On Sunday morning, some areas of Mumbai experienced over 20cm of rainfall in the space of just a few hours.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s west coast has been hit by severe flooding, with a local state of emergency declared and thousands evacuated from their homes.
On Sunday, New Zealand’s government announced $600,000 in emergency aid to the affected districts. “While it is too early to know the full cost of the damage, we expect it to be significant … a big cleanup and recovery effort lies ahead,” the acting minister for emergency management, Kris Faafoi, said.
The extreme weather comes as other parts of the world are reeling from flooding, including Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, London, Edinburgh, and Tokyo. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country had to “up the pace in the fight against climate change.”
