The rain in the national Capital on Sunday, while offering relief from the oppressive heat, also brought chaos, with traffic snarls, water-logging and tragedy. Amid the downpour, two children lost their lives - a seven-year-old drowned and a 13-year-old electrocuted - raising the toll of rain-related deaths to four in the last two days.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for the city.
In Delhi's Rohini Sector 20, a seven-year-old boy named Tarun drowned in a waterlogged park on Saturday evening around 6:30 pm while playing there.
In another incident in the Ranhola area of outer Delhi, a 13-year-old boy lost his life after being electrocuted when he came into contact with an iron pole supplying electricity to a gaushala (cowshed) while playing cricket in Kotla Vihar
Phase-2.
Meanwhile, the teen's mother Anita Devi has demanded strict action against the 'gaushala' (cowshed) and the Power Department.
Disruptions to flight operations were also witnessed at Delhi airport on Sunday due to the bad weather.
Delhiites who stepped out to enjoy their weekend were met with massive disappointment as their journey to hangout destinations turned into nightmares, with roads inundated and many people struggling to push their vehicles through knee-deep water.
Many candidates who went out to write their NEET-PG 2024 examinations also faced difficulties reaching their centres due to waterlogged roads.
If my conscious memory begins when I was 7, then I have 45 years of it. Never have I seen such a complete collapse of municipal infrastructure in Delhi NCR as I have seen this year during the rains.”
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received 25 calls regarding waterlogging and tree falling due to rains between 6 am and 6 pm. A total of ten complaints were received from different areas of Delhi regarding waterlogging including calls from Mangolpuri, Nawada, Mukherjee Nagar, Rohini's Sector 4 and Sector 15, Dwarka, shiv mandir Jain Nagar, Naraina, Pitampura, Uttam Nagar, Sagar Pur, and Najafgarh. Complaints related to tree falling were reported from fifteen areas including Civil Lines, Mundka, Kalkaji, West Punjabi Bagh, two from Hari Nagar, Rajouri Garden, GTB Nagar, Rohini, Bindapur, Mandawali, Madipur, Uttam Nagar, Kamla Nagar and Greater Kailash.
Other areas that were waterlogged include Najafgarh, Kashmere Gate ISBT, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi Gate, Ito, Zakhira, Connaught Place, Chirag Delhi, Sainik farms, Hauz Khas, AIIMS, Minto Bridge, Mundka, Savitri flyover and Sangam Vihar among others.
The Delhi Traffic Police issued a series of alerts for commuters including on MB Road in the carriageway from Khanpur and Hamdard, on Outer Ring Road between Chirag Delhi and Nehru Place and Anuvrat Marg among others.
Adjoining areas including Noida and Gurugram were also heavily waterlogged after a heavy spell of monsoon rain. Gurugram's key roads, sectors and colonies turned into a river again exposing the district administration's preparations to deal with the waterlogging.
Meanwhile, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and the irrigation department had decided to install more high-power pumps at waterlogging points along the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway, including at Narsinghpur.
According to the met department, 2.9 mm rain was recorded in the last 24 hours in Safdarjung, city's primary weather station while Njafgarh recorded the maximum rain of 36.5 mm till 8:30 am. The maximum temperature was recorded at 31 degrees Celsius while the minimum settled at 26 degrees.
