Record rain damages roads, buildings, trees; temp down

New Delhi: Light rain continued in the national capital after 24 hours of continuous downpour brought by Cyclone Tauktae, bringing down the soaring temperature to 21.1 degrees Celsius in respite for the citizens stuck in homes for nearly a month due to the Covid-induced lockdown.

The incessant rainfall throughout Wednesday night caused many trees to fall and damaged many buildings. While traffic jams were not reported widely due to the ongoing lockdown, many areas reported light water-logging causing minor inconveniences. However, the most significant damage caused to infrastructure due to the rains came in the Najafgarh area, where a road under the management of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation caved in along with a truck that was in the area.

The incident occurred near the Dhansa Stand Metro Sation after a drain burst in the area due to excess flow of continuous rainwater, officials said on Thursday. Authorities have said that the State Disaster Response Force was also informed about the incident and the truck was taken out of the caved-in road. People residing in three buildings near the spot were evacuated safely, officials said.

"Repair work of the caved in portion is in progress and all efforts shall be made to complete the work at the earliest. DMRC is now filling below the road with additional concrete to avoid the recurrence of this problem in the future. The contractor working in this project is M/s Paras Railtech Pvt Ltd." the DMRC stated.

After the cave-in, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot visited the site on Thursday and also ordered an inquiry into the incident. He said strict action will be taken against negligent officials. According to the latest civic body figures on Thursday, SDMC reported water-logging in five areas in the West zone, the Central Zone saw water logging in eight areas, four incidents of water-logging were reported from the South Zone. Moreover, 16 incidents of tree-felling were reported in South Delhi.

North MCD reported as many as 37 complaints of building collapse, water-logging, or tree-felling. Of these, 10 areas reported water-logging including Sitaram Bazaar on Asif Ali Road, a bus depot in Jahangirpuri, and an underpass in Keshav Puram, among others.

Another 10 incidents of building or house damage were reported from areas such as Shalimar Bagh near Fortis Hospital, Timarpur ACP office, Police colony on Idgah Road and others. Tree-felling incidents (17) were reported from many parts in the city.

East MCD reported three incidents of building collapse (in East Vinod Nagar, Vivek Vihar, and New Modern Shahdara), two incidents of tree-felling (Krishna Nagar and IP-extension) and one of water-logging (in Priyadarshini Vihar), but said that relief and rebuilding efforts have been completed.

In addition to this, waterlogging in the underpass at Pul Prahladpur caused a bit of traffic mayhem on the carriageway from Mehrauli towards Badarpur and commuters were asked to avoid that stretch.