Showers clog roads, streets waterlogged, PwD prepares
New Delhi: As monsoon rain hit the national capital on Tuesday, waterlogging and massive traffic jams were reported from different parts of the city, causing snaking lines of vehicles on several busy road stretches, including at the Dhaula Kuan Ring Road, Barapullah and Kallindi Kunj flyovers.
People posted pictures and videos of waterlogged streets on social media. In a video of the waterlogged Prahladpur underpass, which was posted on Twitter by a commuter, people are seen manoeuvring their vehicles through the inundated underpass.
The much-awaited Southwest Monsoon finally arrived in Delhi on Tuesday bringing respite from scorching summer temperatures as 28.1 mm rainfall was recorded between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm.
The first showers of monsoon caused waterlogging at the Dhaula Kuan underpass, Rohtak Road near Karala, Sector-D Vasant Kunj, Badarpur, Som Vihar, Ring Road, Vikas Marg, Sangam Vihar, Munirka, Shivalik Road in Malviya Nagar, near Asola village, Rajpur Khurd and Kirari among others, PWD and MCD officials said.
"As a precautionary measure, we had to stop traffic for about two hours due to heavy waterlogging at the Pul Prahladpur underpass. It was caused due to the overflow of a DJB (Delhi Jal Board) sewer line. Water was oozed out by late afternoon, a PWD official said.
The traffic police said that traffic was affected at ITO, Gandhi Nagar main road, Jahangirpuri bypass, Aurobindo Marg in Mehrauli, AIIMS to Dhaula Kuan Ring Road, Barapulla Nala Road to CBI office.
However, there was no waterlogging reported at the Minto Road rail underpass. In July last year, a 56-year-old man allegedly died of drowning when his mini-truck was submerged in water under the Minto Bridge in central Delhi.
At least five pumps have been installed to flush out water from Minto bridge. Sound alarm along with blinkers and CCTVs have also been set up near Minto bridge for swift action, the officials said.
An official of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation said that one tree each fell down at I-block Jangpura, D-Block Lajpat Nagar-2 and Kailash Colony, adding that small portions of two buildings near Andolan park Savitri Nagar and Hauz Khas also fell in the rain.
Moreover, with the rains, airlines have requested passengers to check their flight status as some delays might be anticipated in the coming weeks.
A Delhi airport official confirmed that while no diversions had been directed so far, the announcements were made to warn passengers of possible delays. They added that slight delays are expected in the coming days due to the rain and arrivals and departures might be affected because of this.
