MUMBAI – Monsoon rains lashed India’s financial hub of Mumbai on July 20, leading to the partial collapse of a residential building and resulting in at least one fatality, according to a municipal official. A woman was killed and four others were injured when parts of a four-storey building collapsed in Grant Road, a wealthy suburb in the southern part of the city.
“The woman who died was not a resident of the building,” a spokesperson for the city’s municipal body told AFP. The spokesperson did not confirm whether any residents of the building were missing or trapped under the rubble.
Images posted on social media depicted rescuers working to clear the rubble amid the heavy rain. Monsoon rains, which occur from June to September, are crucial for replenishing India’s rivers and groundwater but often cause widespread destruction. Building collapses are common during this period as old and poorly maintained structures give way under continuous rain.
In 2021, monsoon-triggered floods and landslides in the western state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, killed 200 people and forced a quarter of a million to evacuate their homes.