Knee-deep water, chaos everywhere
NEWDELHI: Incessant rain through Thursday turned the roads of the Capital into puddles, with commuters struggling to manoeuvre their way around knee-deep waters throughout the city.
The Delhi Traffic Police said at least 30 locations across the city were flooded and additional traffic officials had to be deployed to help direct traffic.
Loni roundabout, Khajoori Chowk, the intersection below the Modi Mill flyover, Ghazipur Mandi, National Highway-9 subway near Mayur Vihar Phase-2, Shivaji Bridge underpass, Dwarka Mor Road, Sarai Kale Khan towards Nizamuddin railway station, Rao Tula Rao Marg T-point, and Sarita Vihar underpass were few stretches that became a traffic nightmare for commuters on Thursday.
“Since when the rain started around 7am, we deployed officials across all vulnerable points to help commuters. Traffic jams were reported till around noon and started again in the evening after the shower,” a senior traffic official said.
The situation worsened at several stretches due to the breakdown of vehicles, especially lowfloor DTC buses. Breakdowns of six DTC buses were reported. “These low-floor buses are more prone to breakdowns during monsoons as water easily enters engine,” officials said.
In several parts of south and east Delhi, commuters were stuck for around two hours.
“I started from my house in Moti Bagh around 8am and it took me an hour to reach ITO. The roads were water-logged and it became impossible to drive through it,” said Sanjana Srivastava, who works near Azad Bhawan.
At least 19 cases of water-logging were reported with the three municipal agencies (east, north and south Delhi municipal corporations). “There were barely any cases of water logging from internal roads. These cases of flooding that causes traffic jams are from the main roads. This is the problem of the Delhi government-led Public Works Department,” said north Delhi mayor Adesh Gupta.
Meanwhile, normal life was also thrown out of gear in Faridabad due to heavy rains. Heavy traffic was observed along Mathura Road and other areas in Faridabad. A number of residential and industrial sectors in the city were seen submerged in water. There was no power supply in most parts of Faridabad. Officials said around 60% of the district faced power outage.