Record rains in Agra

The average annual rainfall of 700 mm has already been breached in Agra district, and early Saturday's downpour set a new record for the month of August, weather officials said.

Against an average of 200 mm in August, Agra has already received more than 300 mm of rains.

"The city gets a few showers in September also. That will be a bonus," said environmentalist Shravan Kumar Singh.

On Saturday, rains started around 2 a.m. and continued till 6 a.m. The sky was overcast and the temperature fell by three degrees Celsius, said weather officials.

"In rural areas, the scene is not so bad as in the city, which is virtually deluged due to bad urban planning," said Ravi Singh, a progressive farmer of Barauli Aheer block.

Shikohabad, Firozabad and Mathura also had good showers Friday.

Agra city had its share of woes Saturday too, with water flooding low-lying areas.

After Friday's downpour, municipal pumps were used to pump out water from many parts of the city, but before the pressure could ease, heavy showers early Saturday compounded the problem.

"We have to pay the price for haphazard urban growth, engineering flaws in designing drainage system, and of course the ubiquitous encroachments," lamented hotelier Surendra Sharma.

"While the old city of the Mughals and the British was generally unaffected by water-logging, newer colonies developed after independence have been all choked and some even cut off as roads have caved in and huge craters have been created. The drainage doesn't work and sewer lines are overflowing. So much for our modern urban planning," he said.