Incessant rain on Thursday brought the national Capital and adjoining areas including Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram to a screeching halt with severe water logging, potholes and breakdown of buses witnessed in several parts of the city amid the India Meteorological Department issuing an orange alert for the city.

An orange alert denotes heavy rainfall and also potential disruptions to rail, road and air transport. This is the second consecutive day when the commuters and daily office goers were stuck in traffic jams and waterlogging in the Capital city. Besides torrential downpours since late night, the breakdown of buses on major roads led to traffic jams during the morning and evening peak hours.

The ongoing metro construction works have also worsened the situation including disruptions in the Khanpur area. Traffic around Lutyens’ Delhi was affected due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the second Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation in Pragati Maidan.

Some of the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) had to issue caution to the locals to be alert while moving out from the colonies. With the traffic situation becoming a regular menace, the Sainik Farms Welfare Association in south Delhi took to its social media groups to issue alerts and updates particularly the disruption due to metro work and rains in the area that has disrupted the resident’s daily lives.

According to the MET department, in the past 24 hours till 8 am on Thursday, city’s primary weather station Safdarjung received 16 mm of rainfall, Ayanagar 15.7 mm of rainfall, Delhi University five mm of rainfall, Lodi road 16 mm of rainfall, Narela 1.5 mm of rainfall, Palam nine mm of rainfall, Ridge 11 mm of rainfall, Pitampura 13 mm of rainfall and Mayur Vihar’s Salwan Public School 13 mm of rainfall.

Parts of Delhi-NCR, including India Gate, Janpath Road, R K Puram, Kalindikunj, Gazipur, Indirapuram, Laxmi Nagar, Dwarka, Connaught Place, Noida, Safdarjung, Uttam Nagar, East of Kailash and Rohini witnessed light to moderate showers.

Moti Nagar flyover, which was inaugurated in March this year by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, was waterlogged along with potholes in several places. Public Works Department (PWD) pumps were also not working, irking commuters who were caught in major jams.

Mundka, Dhaula Kuan, Moti Bagh, Mehrauli-Badarpur road, Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh, Punjabi Bagh, Khanpur, ITO, Jahangirpuri, Safdarjung, Kashmere Gate ISBT and Okhla Estate among other areas were flooded after the showers causing slow traffic movement with vehicles wading through knee deep water. 

Taking to social media platforms, Delhi police said that traffic was affected on Old Pankha Road in the carriageway from T point Uttam Nagar East Metro Station towards Pankha Road due to a large pothole on the Road. “Traffic is affected on GTK Road on both the carriageway from Mukarba Chowk towards Azadpur chowk and vice versa due to water logging near GTK Depot,” Delhi Traffic Police wrote in a post on X.

In another post, they said that traffic is affected on MB Road in the carriageway from Khanpur T Point towards Mehrauli and vice versa due to potholes and waterlogging. Similarly, potholes and waterlogging caused traffic jams on Rohtak Road.

On Najafgarh Road in the carriageway from Nawada towards Uttam Nagar due to ongoing work being carried out by Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) vehicular movement is affected, police said.

A commuter, Rohit Tomar, an advocate said, “There was heavy jam near IHBAS hospital at Dilshad Garden. It took me half an hour more to reach Karkardooma Court for an important case hearing.”

Traffic congestion was also reported on the road near Britannia flyover and Punjabi Bagh in west Delhi and in northwest Delhi’s Mangolpuri flyover. Another commuter Gaurav Kumar mentioned that the traffic was affected near Haiderpur and Rohini East metro station.

The ongoing road construction work on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway led to the blockade of both service lanes, causing slow traffic, particularly near the Sirhaul border during peak hours for the fourth consecutive days in the morning and evening. Office-goers experienced traffic jams, but the traffic police eventually managed the congestion with the help of route diversions. Several airlines also issued an advisory on their official Twitter handle alerting travellers to check the status of flight operations.