Rain brings Delhi to its knees

Commuters had a hard time as vehicular traffic crawled on roads clogged with long tailbacks after the city received 15.2 mm rainfall in the second half of the day. Even the media accompanying US Secretary of State reported that his carcade got stuck in the flooded gridlocked roads in Delhi. 

According to the Delhi Traffic Police, which kept updating its Facebook and Twitter pages with traffic snarls, heavy traffic congestion due to excessive waterlogging was reported at the under-bridge at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, on both the carriageways on Shankar Road, in the congested lanes of Anand Parbat, on the Chhata Rail and GPO in Central Delhi. Apart from these places, waterlogging caused massive jams at Nigam Bodh Ghat, Kela Ghat, and near the Ramlila ground. Likewise, waterlogging left commuters high and dry as long tailbacks were reported on Bhairon Marg, Mathura Road and at the Hanuman Setu.

Traffic cops stated that apart from heavy traffic jams in Central Delhi, in North Delhi, traffic was reportedly heavy at the carriageway from DCM Chowk towards Filmistan due to waterlogging.

“Similarly, in parts of South Delhi, waterlogging led to excessive traffic snarls at both the carriageways under Dhaula Kaun flyover from Mayapuri to Motibagh and from Hyatt Hotel towards Moti Bagh. Heavy jams were also reported in the carriageway from Shanti Path towards Moti Bagh due to waterlogging,” said the official.

Meanwhile, out of the several harrowed commuters who took to Twitter to vent out their frustration, one tweeted: “Heavy #jam Geeta colony shamsaan ghat to iron bridge via shastri park , seelampur, Maujpur. Stuck in traffic for more than one hour (sic).”

Traffic police officials added that whereas parts of South Delhi were flooded leading to massive jams, in several parts of Southeast Delhi, commuters were stuck in jams at the Greater Kailash 2, Savitri Cinema, Chittaranjan Park,Vayusenabad and at Tigri on M B Road due to excessive waterlogging. Apart from these areas, heavy traffic was reported on the carriageway from Inderprastha towards Sarai Kale Khan due to waterlogging near the Inderprastha flyover.

“In East Delhi, traffic snarls were reportedly heavy at the Durga Puri Chowk, Wazirabad Road and at Mandoli T-Point due to excessive waterlogging. 

“While in West Delhi, traffic was reported to be heavy from Nangloi area till Mundka on both the carriageways caused by excessive water logging,” the official added. According to another Delhi traffic officer, congestion was reported to be heavy on the carriageway from Peeragarhi to Tikri Border, Nangloi to Najafgarh, under Modi Mill flyover caused by excessive waterlogging. 

Meanwhile, in several parts of South Delhi, stretches such as the AIIMS flyover, Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony flyover and the Badarpur-Mehrauli Road were also waterlogged leading to long tailbacks. Similarly, the road heading to Aurobindo Marg under AIIMS flyover witnessed massive waterlogging, causing traffic to crawl at a snail’s pace.