India, Nov. 14 -- Intense rainfall accounted for nearly 8% of all deaths in Mumbai during the monsoon season in the decade through 2015, according to a paper published on Wednesday in the multidisciplinary science journal, Nature. At 2,300-2,700 deaths per year, the toll was comparable to deaths due to cancer in the city from 2006 till 2015, while people living in slums accounted for 85% of all monsoon-related deaths during this period, the paper said.

The paper, titled 'Rain, Tide, and Lives: The Hidden Mortality Cost of Mumbai's Monsoon', was published jointly by researchers from University of Chicago, Princeton University and the city-based Green Globe Consulting.

The researchers mapped data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporatio...