Heavy rains, lightning kill 41 in India, 15 in Bangladesh

MUMBAI/BHUBANESWAR, India, July 31 (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in heavy rains in a Mumbai suburb on Sunday, state media reported, and officials said 32 people were killed by lightning a day earlier in Odisha.   Authorities had already announced a death toll for Saturday of at least 17 people in heavy rains in Assam.   Lightning also killed 15 people in Bangladesh in the past two days, disaster management officials in Dhaka said on Sunday, adding to a death toll of 17 in flooding on Saturday. About 300 people have died from lightning in Bangladesh so far this year.   Persistent heavy rains this week have caused widespread disruption across South Asia. At least 68 people died in Nepal by flash floods and landslides. [caption id="attachment_209472" align="aligncenter" width="680"]A woman carrying an umbrella crosses a flooded street as it rains in Mumbai, India, July 19, 2016. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui A woman carrying an umbrella crosses a flooded street as it rains in Mumbai, India, July 19, 2016. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui[/caption] [caption id="attachment_209473" align="aligncenter" width="680"]A woman pulls a handcart through a waterlogged road as it rains in Kolkata, India, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri A woman pulls a handcart through a waterlogged road as it rains in Kolkata, India, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri[/caption] [caption id="attachment_209474" align="aligncenter" width="680"]Vendors stand in front of closed shops as it rains in Kolkata, India, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri Vendors stand in front of closed shops as it rains in Kolkata, India, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri[/caption] [caption id="attachment_209475" align="aligncenter" width="680"]A woman walks during heavy rains in Allahabad, India, July 29, 2016. REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash A woman walks during heavy rains in Allahabad, India, July 29, 2016. REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash[/caption] [caption id="attachment_209476" align="aligncenter" width="680"]An army officer assists flood victims in Jhapa, Nepal, July 24, 2016.  Picture taken July 24, 2016. Nepalese Army/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. An army officer assists flood victims in Jhapa, Nepal, July 24, 2016. Picture taken July 24, 2016. Nepalese Army/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.[/caption] About 50,000 people from southern and eastern India had to be evacuated in recent days as storms pushed water levels to dangerous levels, damaging crops and causing more than 3,000 houses to collapse.  

Most of the 32 who died in Odisha were farm labourers killed in a series of lightning strikes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called the deaths "saddening", his office cited him as saying on his official Twitter feed.   In financial hub Mumbai, at least nine people were killed and 20 people were injured in the building collapse, state broadcaster All India Radio said.   Rescue operations were ongoing, the radio station said in a tweet.   Flooding, an annual problem during the monsoon season, has been worsened by crumbling civic infrastructure, clogged drains and uncontrolled urban expansion in a country with a fast-growing population of 1.3 billion.