MUMBAI - Thousands of people waded through knee-deep water in India's financial hub to reach work on Wednesday as monsoon rains continued to flood homes and disrupt transport in Mumbai.

"Our area has been under two feet water for two days," Sumit Tambhe, a resident of the western suburb of Andheri, said.

Municipal officials asked people to stay at home as much as possible.

Metropolitan trains in the teeming city of 17 million were running late as rain water submerged rail tracks.

India's monsoon flooding started on Tuesday in the western city and has killed at least 24 people in eastern India.

A year ago, two days of very heavy rain showed up the pathetic infrastructure and dismal emergency response in Mumbai, India's richest city.

The floods had killed hundreds of people then and closed down the city for nearly a week.

On Wednesday, traffic remained disrupted on several major roads and many flights to and from the city were running late.

Scores of people holding colorful umbrellas waded carefully through muddy water as emergency workers used dozens of water pumps overnight to reduce the flooding.

Schools and colleges were closed and waterlogging had affected life in crowded residential areas like Borivali, Santacruz, Andheri and Kurla.

In the past 24 hours, Mumbai, home to Bollywood, received 17.5 cm (7 inches) average rainfall.