Rains bring city to its knees
New Delhi: The last of August's downpours on Tuesday brought the Capital to a near standstill for hours as major road stretches and streets were inundated — leading to snaking queues of vehicles stuck in traffic once again.
According to officials of the Traffic Police and the Public Works Department (PWD), heavy waterlogging was reported underneath the AIIMS flyover, at the W-point ITO, Ring Road near Hyatt Hotel, both sides of the Savitri flyover, Maharani Bagh, Dhaula Kuan to 11 Murti carriageway, Shahjahan Road, Lala Lajpat Rai Marg and Moolchand underpass, among others.
Waterlogging was also seen in residential colonies such as Jangpura extension, Defence Colony, Maharani Bagh, Malviya Nagar, Garhi village, Sangam Vihar, Vigyan Lok, Laxmi Nagar, they said.
Inundated streets led to traffic snarls on several key stretches such as ITO, Vikas Marg, Ring Road near IP Estate flyover, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Dhaula Kuan, near Bhikaji Cama Place on Ring Road, Narayana, Rohtak Road, Peeragarhi and Nangloi among others.
People uploaded videos of waterlogged streets in different parts of the city on social media.
PWD officials said around 30-40 waterlogging complaints were received till the evening. According to municipal data, nearly 10 incidents of tree felling were reported. A portion of a wall also collapsed near Sainik Farms in south Delhi.
"We are keeping an eye on the situation and ensuring that people do not face many inconveniences due to waterlogging. We are dealing with waterlogging complaints on a priority basis," a senior PWD official said.
Taking a dig at the Arvind Kejriwal led-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma shared a video on Twitter of water falling like a waterfall from a flyover on a car underneath it.
Vehicular movement was affected at several locations, and traffic police diverted motorists to other routes.
Commuters had a harrowing time due to traffic jams in different parts of the city.
Getting stuck in a traffic jam is a nightmare whether it is due to waterlogging or poor roads. I was stuck in a traffic jam for about 20 minutes on Rohtak Road near Peeragarhi. Authorities should do something so that such a level of waterlogging doesn't occur, Ramesh Kushwaha, a resident of Patel Nagar said.
Changing Climate
Significantly, Delhi recorded just 10 rainy days in August, the lowest in seven years, with a cumulative rainfall of 214.5 mm, with the last of it coming with Tuesday's showers.
According to the IMD, 84.1 mm rainfall was recorded on Tuesday till 5:30 pm, with the mercury settling at 26.8 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, nearly two-thirds of the month's rainfall came on a single day on August 21, which was the highest rainfall Delhi has seen in an August day in the last 14 years.
Experts have attributed the uneven distribution of rainfall to climate change.
The national capital had recorded 237 mm rainfall and 18 rainy days in August 2019. There were 16 such rainy days in the corresponding period in 2018 and 19 in 2017.
And as a result of fewer rainy days, the Capital's air quality has also deteriorated, recording 'moderate' air for 20 days - highest in four years and only 11 days of 'satisfactory' air compared to 27 last August.
The capital did not record a single "good" air day this month, while there were four and two such days in 2020 and 2019, respectively.
