It rains chaos on Delhi roads again (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - All hell broke loose on the roads of the national capital Thursday as heavy rains lashed the city and flooded many areas, leaving thousands stranded in hours-long traffic snarls. The Met Office forecast more rains Friday.

With half the city dug up for the Commonwealth Games-related work, waterlogging was a common sight — with some areas under chest-deep water because of the constant downpour. The standing water soon brought the city to a standstill.

The city recorded 89.3 mm of rainfall till 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The capital so far has received 554.4 mm of rainfall.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received 106 complaints of waterlogging, 23 tree falling and 11 incidents of wall collapse during the day.

According to a traffic official at the helpline, traffic in most parts of the city was crawling because of the waterlogging. Serpentine traffic jams were reported from ITO, Ring Road, Dwarka, the DND flyover connecting Noida, Saket, Raj Ghat, Pusa Road, Rohtak Road and Ashram Chowk.

Successive alerts over SMS from the Delhi Traffic Police were pointers to the number of traffic snarls around the city, stretching from Noida and Gurgaon bordering the city’s western and southern outskirts to the Inter-State Bus Terminal and the areas nearby in the north.

At many places in the city, the underpasses were water logged, adding to the woes of the commuters.

In fact, those coming into the city from Noida, using the toll bridge, were diverted back mid-way, since there was a long queue of vehicles along the arterial Ring Road, unable to move even an inch for several hours. Many people also missed their trains and flights.

“I could not find even a single auto. The auto drivers were refusing to drive for the fear of a breakdown. I had to take a taxi, which was expensive. Even after paying so much, I reached at least an hour late,” said Divya Channa, a bank employee, who was on her way from Defence Colony to R.K. Puram area of the city.

Delhi Mayor Prithviraj Sawhney was also stranded for over half an hour in west Delhi while on his way to Dhaula Kuan.

“I was stuck in the traffic block for over half an hour Thursday. Majority of water logging and traffic jam complaints are reported from central and south Delhi. The MCD workers are visiting the areas from where the complaints are reported but nothing can be done when there is such a downpour,” Sawhney told IANS.

With chaos on roads, several people were seen cursing the Delhi government for their problems.

“The city has been dug up completely and construction is going on everywhere. The pedestrians and two-wheeler riders are facing the worse as roads are full of cars and other heavy transport, leaving no room for the pedestrians to walk. I don’t know what the city government is doing,” said Uma Biswas, a media professional stuck in a traffic jam in ITO.

Owing to the heavy rains, power outages were also reported from parts of the city, a power official said.

The incessant rains brought down the mercury seven degrees Celsius below the average with maximum temperature settling at 27.8 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature was recorded at 24.6 degrees Celsius, which was average for this time of the season.

The India Meteorological Department warned of more rains Friday.

“Skies will mainly remain cloudy with possibility of one or two spells of rains, which may be heavy in some areas. The maximum and minimum temperatures Friday will be around 31 and 25 degrees Celsius respectively,” said an IMD official.