New Delhi:
Heavy rains lashed Delhi-NCR, particularly battering the satellite city of Gurgaon on Wednesday, flooding the low-lying areas and bringing the traffic to a halt.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the India Meteorological Department, said Delhi recorded light to moderate rains between 6 am and 8:30 am, thereafter the intensity increased.
Heavy rains are very likely as the day progresses, he said.
Till 8.30 am, Gurgaon had recorded 23 millimetres of rainfall, he said.
Gurgaon witnessed very heavy downpour since morning. The rains flooded many streets, turning them into small rivers, as traffic came to a virtual standstill at key stretches. An underpass on the Golf Course Road was also submerged under water.
Many vehicles lay marooned on the roads as they got stuck due to the water. Police were also seen moving them to keep the traffic going.
The traffic congestion also brought back the memories of the rains in 2016 when commuters were stuck in a massive jam for hours.
“Traffic has not moved an inch on Subhash Chowk (Gurgaon) since an hour because there is waterlogging,” said Deepak Sharma, a resident of Gurgaon said.
The Millennium City was among the worst hit as water entered complexes of high-rises, forcing them to turn off the power to avoid any mishap.
“The city has come to a standstill, roads are submerged under water, imagine what would be the state of subways. Gurgaon is never prepared for rains,” said Nidhi Shukla, a Gurgaon-based architect.
Keerti Uppal, another resident of Gurgaon, said the situation is so bad in up-class Gurgaon areas, what could be the state of interior Gurgaon.
“If it is known as cyber city, it cannot be floating every time it rains for an hour, she added.
In Delhi, waterlogging took place at 16 different locations in areas, including Kirari, Burari and Rohini, the North MCD said.
Trees fell at seven different locations and at eight places and parts of buildings collapse due to rain.
Seven cars were damaged after the boundary wall of a school in Block J, Saket in south Delhi collapsed allegedly due to heavy rains, the police said.
On road, vehicles moved bumper to bumper during the morning rush hours, as the downpour led to heavy waterlogging at key road stretches.
The Delhi Traffic Police has been constantly updating its Twitter handle alerting commuters about waterlogging at several intersections across the city.
According to them, waterlogging was reported at BRT near Central School, Badarpur to Ashram, Badarpur flyover underpass, Sarita Vihar flyover underpass, Dhaula Kuan towards AIIMS carriageway, Moti Bagh flyover underpass, MB Road near Batra Hospital, Palam Flyover and Chhata Rail.
Other areas, including Mayur Vihar Phase-2, Sarai Kale Khan to DND, Sashi Garden to Kotla, Seemapuri to Dilshad Garden underpass, MB Road at Maidan Garhi, MB Road at Anuvrat Marg, Apsara Border have also reported water-logging.
The Delhi Traffic Police has alerted commuters to avoid specific stretches of roads where traffic congestion has been witnessed.
Srivastava said Delhi recorded moderate rains till 11:30 am. More rains are very likely as the day progresses.
The Ayanagar weather station in Delhi recorded 63.1 mm rainfall between 2:30 am and 11:30 am.
The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 29.8 mm rains. The Palam, Lodhi Road, and Ridge weather stations gauged 45 mm, 25.8 mm, and 42.5 mm precipitation during the period.
Rainfall recorded below 15 mm is considered light, between 15 and 64.5 mm is moderate and above 64.5 mm is heavy.
