Heavy rains lash Delhi, bring back traffic woes

NEW DELHI - Heavy rains lashed Delhi Saturday morning, bringing with it flooded streets and traffic snarls. Commuters had a harrowing time reaching their destinations with long jams reported on most city roads.

Water-logging was reported in Model Town, Lajpat Nagar, Janpat Crossing, Ashram, Mahipalpur Chowk, Dhaula Kuan, Rajpath, Greater Kailash, Mehrauli Badarpur Road and August Kranti Marg.

Traffic moved at a snails pace everywhere with stalled cars in the middle of water-filled roads adding to the problem.

“My car was crawling near Green Park extension area as the road was flooded. I was praying the car would not stall when I saw water entering inside the car. Many cars and autos got stalled and the owners had to push them.” said Avantika, an office goer.

Jams were reported on the BRT corridor, the stretch from Sheikh Sarai to Chirag Delhi (in south Delhi), from IGI airport to Vasant Kunj, Ashram and Piragarhi flyover, parts of Rohini (in north Delhi) and Mayur Vihar-III (in east Delhi), Raja Garden flyover, ISBT Kashmere gate and Vikas Marg near ITO.

The weather office said heavy rains were expected through the day.

“We have received reports of rains in various parts of the capital. We expect 90 percent of rainfall today (Saturday),” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The minimum temperature recorded was 27.4 degrees Celsius, two degrees above the average for this time of the season. The maximum was expected to hover around 32 degrees Celsius, one notch below normal.

Delhi recorded 13.2 mm of rainfall Friday. It has so far received a total 242.2 mm of rains this monsoon.