Traffic comes to a crawl as rains lash Delhi

New Delhi: Heavy rains lashed several parts of the Delhi-NCR region on Thursday bringing the mercury down but bringing traffic in the Capital to its knees, with many roads jammed in light of waterlogging and others due to lack of police personnel and faulty signals.

Commuters claimed that apart from waterlogging, in some areas, traffic lights were not working and traffic police personnel were not present due to which vehicles were moving at a snail's pace.

According to traffic police, there was an obstruction in traffic in the carriageway from Signature Bridge towards Yamuna Vihar due to waterlogging. In Mehrauli, Chhatarpur-Barapullah flyover, Khajuri flyover to Yamuna Vihar, heavy snarls were reported.

One Sonal Maheshwari said his father was stuck for the last 2 hours at the same point at Barapullah flyover. Meanwhile, another commuter Jaganath said there was a heavy traffic jam between AIIMS and the Ashram Flyover. It took around three hours to reach DND.

Another traveller Radhey Shyam said there was again a heavy traffic jam at Gujjar Chowk, Bhalswa Dairy. "No traffic officer available on duty. No Red Light. Daily public-facing this issue," he said. Meanwhile, one Sachin Kumar said the traffic signal was not working in the Yamuna Vihar area.

One Jitender Harsh said he started from Nehru Place around 5:10 pm and had just covered 10kms in 2.5 hrs.

One traffic official said, during the rainy season, PWD and MCD pumps play an important role if they are working properly then water can be easily drained out.

"Our personnel are deployed at that points to ensure that traffic runs smoothly," the official said. In advance, the traffic department also informed civic agencies about waterlogging points. "As per situation we also provide diversions to vehicles for smooth traffic," the official said.

The maximum temperature settled at 27.6 degrees Celsius — seven notches below normal, the weather office said. The minimum temperature recorded at the Safdarjung observatory was 24 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal, the IMD said.

The weatherman has predicted "generally cloudy sky with moderate rain" on Friday.