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Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds ripped through Mumbai, the financial capital of India, on Monday, killing at least eight people, uprooting trees and causing power outages in many parts of the city, officials said.<\/p>\n
The deaths were caused by a large billboard<\/a> that toppled onto a crowd of people seeking shelter, a local official said.<\/p>\n Rescue workers from India\u2019s national disaster force and local police officers were called in to help free dozens of people trapped in the rubble, in the eastern suburb of Ghatkopar. Video on social media showed the billboard shaking in the storm before falling.<\/p>\n One witness, Swapnil Khupte, said<\/a> that when the rains and wind started becoming worse, he and his friends had taken shelter at a gas station near the billboard. When it collapsed, he said, many of the people trapped under it were women and children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAll the cars, bikes and people that were there got stuck,\u201d he told a local news agency. \u201cWe helped people get out and somehow manage to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n Mumbai, home to more than 18 million people, sits on a peninsula surrounded by the sea. Like many other Indian cities, it is prone to severe flooding and rain-related accidents during the monsoon season, which runs from June until September.<\/p>\n In recent years, India has experienced a pattern of extreme weather, including record heat waves and heavy floods. The monsoon\u2019s arrival this year has also caused damage and fatalities in many other parts of the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In all, 64 people injured when the billboard toppled over on Monday were admitted to the hospital, said<\/a> Bhushan Gagrani, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which runs Mumbai. One was listed as in critical condition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n