Overnight rains make up for month's lowest in 10 yrs
new delhi: Delhi witnessed the heaviest spell of rains this monsoon season on Thursday, which inundated low-lying areas and threw traffic out of gear. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Ayanagar weather station recorded 99.2 mm rainfall, the maximum in the city, during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Thursday.
The downpour also brought down the rain deficiency in the national capital.
Till Wednesday evening, the Safdarjung observatory had recorded 72 per cent less rainfall than normal in August, the lowest in 10 years, according to the IMD. The shortage reduced to 14 per cent by Thursday morning.
Overall, Delhi has now recorded seven per cent more rains than normal in the monsoon season so far.
The Palam and Ridge weather stations gauged 93.6 mm and 84.6 mm precipitation respectively. The Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 68 mm rainfall, according to the IMD.
The overnight rains also led to many trees across the Capital falling and the usual blame-game over passing the buck on the city's still lacking drainage system.
According to Delhi Police, on Thursday water loggings reported from Chhatta Rail, Kela Ghat, IP Flyover, Minto Road, Bakoli Khampur, Mundka Nangloi, Mayapuri Flyover, Raja Garden Flyover, Mandi House, Guru Nanak Chowk, Under Railway Bridge near Bhairon Marg. The Delhi Traffic Police took to Twitter to inform them about the traffic situation. "A tree has fallen in front of Delhi High Court gate number 2, due to which traffic is affected.
"Due to heavy rain, a drain has been damaged near the Khaira village T point on Dhansa road where underground metro work is going on. For safety point of view, traffic movement has been closed on 200 meters stretch of that portion of
Dhansa road."
Diversion of heavy traffic including buses and goods vehicles, has been done from Rawta village mod on main Dhansa road. Now diverted traffic is taking route Rawata mod - Ujjawa village - Gumenhera village then Khaira village road and reaching Najafgarh Phirni road and on the reverse. Light vehicles are not being affected, these vehicles are passing through the colony street without any hurdle. Traffic is normal in the entire area," the traffic police said in a series of tweets.
A video of people crossing a severely flooded road on a bullock cart went viral in social media. The video showed that within seconds at least five people fell into the water.
Three workers of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation were also trapped under debris at the Bhalaswa landfill after a part of it slid down due to heavy rains, the civic body mayor said on Thursday. All three workers were rescued and rushed to a hospital, Mayor Jai Prakash said. Meanwhile, one private bus and a vehicle carrying policemen were trapped in
the water.
While Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta issued a statement, slamming the Delhi government over what he called its negligence of the city's drainage systems; Aam Aadmi Party's Dilip Pandey called out the BJP-ruled civic bodies in the city for their "poor management" of monsoon drains. He alleged that the money allowed for cleaning drains was instead used for corruption. Pandey clarified that 98 percent of the drains come under the MCDs and only 2 percent are under the Delhi
government.
Meanwhile, the apex body of consulting engineers, CEAI on Thursday wrote to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and suggested setting up a unified nodal agency to tackle drainage and waterlogging problems in the city during the rainy season.
In its letter to the chief minister, Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI) also offered free consulting services to the Delhi government in addressing the waterlogging problems of
the city.
