Heavy rain lashed parts of Delhi-NCR on Tuesday morning, providing relief from the hot and humid weather conditions. The downpour resulted in traffic congestion and people faced problems commuting due to the heavy rain due to severe Waterlogging.
This prompted the Delhi Police to issue an advisory asking commuters to avoid stretches such as Nigambodh Ghat, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Marg, Mangi Bridge, and Rohtak Road. Besides, rains also led to power outages in several parts of the capital city.
According to the India Meteorological Department ( IMD),North Delhi’s Ridge Station received the highest – 72.4mm – rainfall between 5:30 am and 8:30 am. West Delhi’s Pitampura logged 57 mm, Delhi University 45mm, Mayur Vihar 39mm, Najafgarh 35mm, and Lodhi Road 25.6mm. Safdarjung, representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 28.7mm over three hours. The IMD has forecast light rain to continue until Saturday, with a chance of an isolated spell of moderate rain on Wednesday and Thursday.
Delhi has received rain on all days of this month barring August 3, making it an unusually wet August. It has so far recorded 240.2mm of rainfall this month, the highest for August since 2013 (321.4mm). The IMD has said scattered light rain will continue throughout this week.
Some of the places where heavy water logging was reported included the Minto Bridge underpass, Feroz Shah Road, Patel Chowk Metro Station area and Maharaj Ranjeet Singh Marg.Some of the visuals which are making rounds on social media, show water entering the road under Minto Bridge following heavy downpour. An auto-rickshaw is seen submerged into the waterlogged Minto Road.A senior police officer said that due to the rain, the auto-rickshaw developed some technical snag and the driver left it behind before the water filled on the road.
According to Delhi PWD, the Minto Bridge underpass was closed for vehicular traffic for almost two to three hours in the morning until the waterlogging was cleared. The road was opened for the commuters at 11.30 am after waterlogging from all the underpasses was cleared and traffic is moving normally, a PWD official said.
“I was not aware that the Minto Road underpass was closed for commuting. I saw several people were working there with water pumps to remove the waterlogging. I waited there for sometime and later took an alternate route to reach Connaught Place," Vaishali Chaudhary, a commuter travelling to Connaught Place in central Delhi, said. Due to the road cave-in opposite Old Delhi Railway Station in the carriageway from Chhatta Rail towards Pili Kothi, traffic is affected. Diversion has been made from Kodiya Pul Red Light, police said. The Delhi Police had issued traffic advisories for the affected roads.
In a post on X, the police said the traffic was affected on Outer Ring Road on both carriageways from Bhera Enclave roundabout towards Peeragarhi due to waterlogging.
New Rohtak Road also faced traffic issues in both directions at Anand Parbat because of waterlogging, they said. Similarly, traffic was disrupted on Rohtak Road in the section from Nangloi towards Tikri Border and vice versa due to potholes and waterlogging. Motorists were advised to avoid Mundka and use alternate routes. The traffic was also slow in north Delhi's Shastri Nagar area. Due to waterlogging on Indraprastha Marg (IP Marg) from Old Police Head Quarter Exit Gate to IP Flyover, traffic was affected, the police said in the post Rohtak Road in west Delhi was also hit by traffic from Tikri Border to Peeragarhi and vice-versa due to waterlogging at Mundka, the police said.
Similarly, the traffic was also affected on both carriageways of Mahatma Gandhi Marg following the waterlogging under Mangi Bridge.
