Record rains lashed the nationwide capital on Saturday, crippling the visitors motion and inflicting heavy waterlogging in lots of components of town, with locations like Minto Bridge, Rajghat, Connaught Place, and ITO being inundated after intense rains.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) mentioned Delhi recorded 139 mm of rainfall, the best one-day rain for August in a minimum of 13 years.
It has issued an ‘orange’ alert, a warning for terribly unhealthy climate with the potential of disruption in commute with highway and drain closures and interruption of energy provide, for town.
Public Works Department (PWD) officers mentioned 316 complaints of waterlogging had been acquired on the management room until 4.30 pm on Saturday. The officers mentioned that the sector workers was on the bottom to deal with waterlogging complaints on precedence foundation.
According to knowledge from the three civic our bodies, a minimum of 14 incidents of tree felling had been reported within the metropolis.
Commuters had a harrowing expertise travelling from one place to a different as automobiles crawled on necessary stretches. People had been additionally seen wading by waterlogged streets in several areas of the nationwide capital.
Stretches that witnessed jams embrace ITO, Dhaula Kuan, Mehram Nagar underpass close to the airport, Vikas Marg, Mathura Road, Ring Road, Mukarba Chowk, Rohtak Road close to Peeragarhi, Connaught Place, Barakhamba Road and Bhairon Marg.
Narrating his story of visitors woe, a commuter, Vikas Tyagi, mentioned that it took him over 4 hours to succeed in Burari from Hapur as a consequence of intensive waterlogging on town streets.
“It is a nightmare to get stuck in a traffic jam. Today’s (Saturday) rains literally crippled the traffic movement in the city as almost every street was clogged. Even the tributary roads of key stretches were jammed. Usually, it is two hours drive between Hapur and Burari but today I reached home in four hours,” Tyagi lamented.
Due to the waterlogging, the Delhi Traffic Police within the morning closed a number of essential underpasses and visitors moved at a snail’s tempo at many stretches. The visitors police took to Twitter to tell commuters about highway closures.
“Traffic movement on Minto Bridge (both carriageways) has been closed due to waterlogging. Please avoid (the) stretch,” the visitors police mentioned in a tweet.
Hours later, it knowledgeable folks that ordinary visitors motion had been restored on the Minto Bridge underpass.
Last month, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had mentioned {that a} “world-class drainage system” can be developed throughout the nationwide capital.
He had mentioned drainage techniques just like the one at Minto Road can be replicated throughout Delhi and drains and sewers can be de-silted usually.
A senior PWD official mentioned that the primary cause behind the flooding of the Minto Road underpass was overflow of a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) sewer line together with a “very excessive depth’ rain.
“Very excessive depth and file rains occurred on Saturday. which triggered overflow of a DJB sewer line close to DDU Marg. This resulted waterlogging within the Minto Road underpass. We have all of the system in place so visitors was stopped instantly and water was pumped out,’ the official mentioned.
He added that the underpass was opened for visitors in three hours.
On Saturday, the visitors police mentioned that underpasses at Azad Market in central Delhi and Azadpur in north Delhi had been closed for visitors, whereas vehicular motion was affected at Moolchand and Pul Prahladpur underpasses in south Delhi as a consequence of waterlogging.
Other locations that witnessed waterlogging embrace the Ring Road close to WHO constructing, close to IP Flyover, Tilak Bridge underpass, Lajpat Nagar, Jangpura, AIIMS flyover, Connaught Place, ITO, Pusa Road, Maharani Bagh, GTK DTC depot, yards of New Delhi Railway Station and Old Delhi Railway Station, roads round Pragati Maidan, Rohtak Road, Nand Nagri and Loni Chowk.
Traffic motion was additionally disrupted on the Mehrauli-Badarpur highway in south Delhi.
“Waterlogging at Pul Prahladpur Underpass. Traffic interrupted at MB road diverted on Mathura road. Kindly avoid (the) stretch,” the visitors police tweeted.
Another commuter, Kartik Kumar, who works in Connaught Place, mentioned he reached his workplace late as a consequence of visitors jams.
“I was stuck in a traffic jam at two-three places, including ITO, due to heavy waterlogging. Delhi gets flooded even when it receives moderate rain. This causes inconvenience to the public,” mentioned Kumar, who lives in Noida.
Several residential areas and markets in Krishna Nagar, Mayur Vihar-2, Babarpur, Mangolpuri, Kirari, Malviya Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Sadar Bazar had been additionally inundated.
The weatherman has forecast typically cloudy skies with average rain in the course of the day.
The IMD has additionally issued a ‘yellow’ alert, indicating severely unhealthy climate, for Sunday for Delhi.
A PWD official mentioned the division’s area workers was working to resolve waterlogging complaints.
“The intensity of rain this morning was high, so a few areas of the city witnessed waterlogging. Our field staff is on the ground and we are closely monitoring the situation. The Minto Road underpass has been cleared,” he mentioned.
