Monsoon batters country

Rescue crews in India used boats and helicopters on Saturday, local time, to reach areas hammered by days of monsoon rains – coming at nearly 2.5 centimetres an hour at one weather station – that submerged homes and triggered landslides in the latest battle against extreme weather around the world. At least 125 people were killed, Indian officials said. Emergency teams confronted thick sludge and debris in attempts to evacuate people across hard-hit Maharashtra state, which includes Mumbai. Thousands of trucks were stuck on the partly submerged highway between Mumbai and the technology hub of Bangalore. Major rivers were still in danger of rising further, the Reuters news agency reported. The scenes in India echoed disasters around the world caused by deadly floods in recent weeks in China’s central Henan province and in Germany and Belgium.