Rescuers are desperately searching for at least 30 people trapped in rubble after a five-storey building collapsed in flood-hit Mumbai.

At least four people have been confirmed to have died in the collapse in western Indian city early on Thursday.

Rescue workers, police and locals have so far pulled 13 people out of the debris alive as heavy machinery was used to lift the rubble.

Residents in an adjacent building in the Bhendi Bazaar area in southern Mumbai have been urged to evacuate after it developed cracks.

Two days of torrential rain across the region, the heaviest for more than 15 years, has exposed the foundations of Mumbai's buildings and left them at risk of collapse.

Building collapses are common in India during the monsoon season, which is June to September.

Transport in the city ground to a halt as roads turned into rivers and floodwaters swept across many low-lying buildings.

Drivers were forced to leave their vehicles while people waded through waist-deep water to reach their homes.