MONSOON RAINS LASHED PARTS OF INDIA'S EAST AND WEST ON THURSDAY, TAKING THE DEATH TOLL FROM A WEEK OF EXTREME WEATHER TO 81 PEOPLE, BUT EASED OVER THE FINANCIAL HUB OF MUMBAI AFTER DISRUPTING LIFE FOR THREE DAYS, REUTERS REPORTED. THE JUNE-SEPTEMBER ANNUAL MONSOON, KEY TO INDIA'S AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH, REVIVED THIS WEEK AFTER A TWO-WEEK LULL. MOST OF THE LATEST DEATHS WERE IN THE EASTERN STATE OF ORISSA AND WESTERN MAHARASHTRA AND GUJARAT AND WERE DUE TO LIGHTNING STRIKES, ELECTROCUTION AND DROWNING. AT LEAST EIGHT PEOPLE WERE SWEPT AWAY IN FLASH FLOODS OVERNIGHT IN ORISSA, TAKING THE TOLL THERE TO 32. MORE THAN 3,700 HOUSES -- LARGELY MUD-AND-THATCH -- WERE DESTROYED IN ORISSA. IN MAHARASHTRA, HEAVY RAINS HAVE KILLED 28 PEOPLE IN THE PAST THREE DAYS. "MOST OF THE PEOPLE DIED FROM LIGHTNING," D.K. SHANKARAN, MAHARASHTRA'S TOP BUREAUCRAT, SAID. BUT THE STATE CAPITAL, MUMBAI WAS, HOWEVER, LIMPING BACK TO NORMAL WITH FLOOD WATERS RECEDING FROM ROADS AND RAILWAY TRACKS.
