Mumbai is limping back to normalcy

Hit by the century's heaviest rainfall, Mumbai was today slowly limping back to normalcy with rail and road links partially restored while rescue operations in landslide-affected Jui in Raigad district and other parts of Maharashtra continued on a large scale as the death toll in the state crossed 200, police said.

Long distance train services were yet to resume but suburban locals on western railway route were running between Churchgate and Virar.

On the central railway route, the trains were moving between Thane and Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, a railway spokesman said.

However, the harbour section was operational between CST and Kurla, he added.

The city airport was "partially operational" and four aircraft, including three with relief material, landed today.

A special flight with oil and natural gas corporation chairman Subir Raha and his team also landed as the airport was made available for visual landing by aircraft with the help of limited navigational aids such as the localiser and distance measuring equipment, AAI airport director sudhir Kumar said.

Indian Airlines, Air-India and jet airways said flights into and out of Mumbai would depend on the availability of navigational and communication aid from noon.

Meanwhile, rains continued to lash Konkan and other parts of the state and weather bureau has forecast heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would undertake an aerial survey of Thane, Raigad and other affected areas to take stock of the situation.

Water level receded in several low-lying areas of the city enabling vehicles to ply on the roads.

Vehicular movement was restored on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.

However, Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Nasik and Mumbai-Pune highways remained blocked following traffic congestion due to water logging at certain points, police said.

Rescue work in worst-affected Jui village in Konkan, where 20 houses were crushed under boulders in a landslide and 100 were feared killed, was in full swing.

Army and navy teams reached there in boats to help in rescue operations.

In Saki Naka area of Mumbai, where several people died in a massive landslide, rescue operations were still on. About 135 hutments were crushed under boulders following a landslide yesterday, police said.

In two more incidents yesterday, ten people were buried alive in a landslide at Mumbra in Thane district. Some seven people were feared killed in another landslide in Bhiwandiaccording to the police.