Monsoon rains over the past two days continue to disrupt life in the financial hub of Mumbai, officials said. At least nine people were swept away in flash floods in the eastern coastal state of Orissa overnight, taking the death toll in the state and neighbouring Jharkhand to 33. The heavy monsoon showers also damaged hundreds of hectares of rice paddy. Landslides and flooding killed eight people in the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In Mumbai, thousands of people waded through knee-deep water to reach work yesterday as monsoon rains flooded homes for a third day and disrupted road and rail transport. “Our area has been under two feet water for two days,” Sumit Tambhe, a resident of the western suburb of Andheri, said. Officials asked people to stay at home as much as possible and thousands could not go to work in the teeming city of 17 million. Metropolitan trains were running late as rain water submerged rail tracks. Dozens were reported missing in Orissa and in Andhra Pradesh. “With so many people missing the toll could go up,” said Jagadananda Panda, a senior relief official in Orissa.