Torrential rain lashed Mumbai again yesterday, disrupting flights, hampering rescue efforts and bringing more misery as the death toll from the heaviest downpours in the Indian city's history neared 1,000.

The driving rain disrupted rail and air services, officials said, as the authorities issued new flood alerts and appealed to residents to stay home.

"Heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong gusty winds is expected in the city and suburbs. The forecast is valid until Monday morning," a spokesman for the Mumbai Meteorological Depart-ment said. "Heavy rainfall is also expected to occur in Maharashtra and neighbouring states during the next 48 hours."

Dead bodies and carcasses of animals were still strewn across parts of Mumbai and its suburbs from last week's flooding, raising fears of disease, TV and officials said.

"I hope there is no epidemic," Maharashtra relief commissioner Krishna Vatsa said.

The monsoon rains in the region have been the heaviest for nearly a century, and on Sunday western India was drenched again.

"We are appealing to people not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary," Police Commissioner A.N. Roy told Reuters. "Already, the rains are going on and there is a forecast of further heavy rainfall."

Officials said fatalities in the western state of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, were rising as more bodies were being dug out from villages flattened by landslides south of Bombay.

In Raigarh district, 150 km south of Bombay, about 200 are dead or missing. At least 899 confirmed deaths have been reported in the state, police said.