New Delhi

INDIA'S ability to predict the sort of devastating rainfall that struck Mumbai last week is set to get a major boost next year.

The heaviest rainfall since 2005 killed a dozen people in India's financial capital, disrupted stock and bond trading and halted a suburban train network that carries about eight million people a day. Local residents and civic authorities struggled to cope as most roads were submerged and commuters waded through waist-deep floodwater.