Incessant rain since Wednesday midnight in Delhi and its neighbouring areas led to a complete collapse of city’s drainage infrastructure causing severe waterlogging and traffic congestions in many parts of the national Capital.

There were reports of tree falling and power outages in several areas. According to reports from civic agencies, most of the low-lying areas and underpasses were inundated with rainwater. Visuals showed vehicles struggling to negotiate heavily waterlogged roads and pedestrians wading through ankle to knee-deep water on most roads, with underpasses almost completely submerged. There was also the risk of an overflow of sewers in many areas.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received a total of 34 calls regarding waterlogging and tree falling from different parts of the city in 12 hours till 6 pm.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Safdarjung Observatory, the city's primary weather station, recorded 77 mm of rainfall bringing the total rainfall for the monsoon season to 825.5 mm.

This figure has already exceeded Delhi's annual average rainfall of 762.3 mm. According to Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather Services, Delhi's annual average rainfall is 762.3 mm and the city has already received 825.5 mm so far. August has seen unprecedented rainfall as the number of rainy days shot up to 25 which is the highest number of rainy days reported for the month in the last 13 years, according to IMD record from 2011 to 2024.

There were 22 rainy days reported in August 2012, which is the second-highest mark in this period.

Moreover, the month received 378.5 mm of rainfall, the city's highest in 12 years, according to the IMD, surpassing the previous high of 321.4 mm recorded in August 2013.

As rains lashed the city, office goers and commuters faced a hard time as they had to wade through knee deep water with heavy traffic witnessed at several areas where the vehicles were seen crawling.

Many areas including Shankar Vihar, Delhi Cantonment, Sainik Farms, Mehrauli-Badarpur road, ITO, Geeta Colony and area around MCD Civic Centre between GB Pant Hospital and Delhi Gate were severely submerged in water.

Other areas such as Kalindi Kunj, Delhi-Gurugram border, Sarai Kale Khan, Dhaula Kuan and GT Karnal Road, among others, witnessed traffic jams for more than an hour. Besides, traffic congestion was also reported from North Campus of Delhi University and some areas of east Delhi.

Delhiites expressed their frustration as reaching their workplace became a hassle amid trying to wade through the waterlogged streets. A 22 year old Suraj Bahuguna said, “I commute daily from Badarpur to Noida for work, and the monsoon months of July and August have been especially challenging due to severe waterlogging in my area. There's a complete lack of proper drainage for rainwater, leading to flooded streets even hours after the rain stops. The traffic congestion caused by this is another major headache.”

He added that while it usually takes him about 20 minutes to reach the metro station from his home, but due to the waterlogged streets and exposed electrical wires, it took him almost an hour. “This isn't just inconvenient; it's dangerous, especially with open wires posing a serious threat to both people and dogs. The situation urgently needs attention to prevent accidents and ensure a smoother daily commute for everyone,” he said.

Inderjeet Singh, a central Delhi resident, said he had to return home while on-way to work because of a jam in the Ridge area. Siddharth Shrivastav, a resident of Ghaziabad, reached the Tis Hazari court around half an hour late for a case as he was stuck in a jam between Welcome Metro Station and Shastri Park flyover.

A 23 year old Vinayak Nair, a resident of Gurugram, said that he has been facing inconveniences as he commutes to Delhi for work and get stuck in the rain. “In Gurugram, roads gets clogged and submerged during the rainy season chiefly because of poor city planning and substandard infrastructure,” he said and added that public transport facilities like autos and rickshaws also hike their fares to an exorbitant rate, causing financial inconvenience to daily commuters.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received a total of 34 calls regarding waterlogging and tree falling from different parts of the city in 12 hours till 6 pm. A total of 16 calls were received about waterlogging from several areas including Patel Nagar, RK Puram, Tihar Village, Mangalpuri, Samman Bazar, Laxmi Nagar, Bali Nagar, Jain Nagar, DLF Farms, Mukherjee Nagar, Rangpuri, Chandni Chowk, Hari Nagar and Alipur.

Meanwhile, the balconies of a two-storey house at Harish Wali Gali in central Delhi's Anand Parbat area collapsed. No one was injured in the incident, a Delhi Fire Services official said, adding that they received information around 2.50 am about the incident.

Further, Vivek Vihar, Old Rajinder Nagar, Saket, Sarai Rohilla, Johripur, Sultanpuri, Mansarovar Garden, Tri Nagar, Okhla Industrial Estate, East of Kailash, Shahdara, Patel Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Punjabi Bagh, Kashmere Gate, Gulabi Bagh, Dilshad garden and Rajghat witnessed uprooting of trees causing disruption in traffic.

Power outages were also reported as many stated that there has been no electricity for hours. “There was four feet deep water logging in Sainik Farms. To make matters worse, transformers have burst in the area so there was no electricity for hours,” a local said.

In posts on X, police put out information about waterlogged roads and asked commuters to plan their journey accordingly. “Traffic movement is affected on both the carriageways of GTK Road, from Mukarba Chowk towards Azadpur chowk and vice versa, due to waterlogging near the GTK Depot,” the police said.

It said traffic is affected on both the carriageways of MB Road, from Khanpur towards Shooting Range T-Point and vice-versa, and on the Rohtak Road's Nangloi to Tikri Border carriageway due to waterlogging. "Due to waterlogging near GGR/PDR underpass and Ring Road under Dhaula Kuan Flyover, traffic will remain affected on Ring Road, Vande Mataram Marg and NH-48," it stated.

Traffic movement was affected on NH-48 near Mahipalpur, on Aurobindo Marg near PTS and on Josip Broz Tito Marg towards Chirag Delhi. Due to waterlogging under GGR flyover near APS Colony and breakdown of two buses, traffic will remain affected from NSG light towards Vasant Vihar and Dhaula Kuan, the traffic police stated.

The heavy overnight rainfall caused a similar situation in several areas of Gurugram with traffic movement, especially on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway, slowed to a crawl during peak hours due to the waterlogging.

Areas such as Rajiv Chowk, Golf Course Extension Road, Railway Road, Subhash Chowk, Udyog Vihar and Narsinghpur, among others, were also inundated. Waterlogging in parts of old Gurugram, including Sadar Bazar, Gurdwara Road and Old Delhi Road, led to traffic jams that lasted till the afternoon.