Heavy rain lashes Delhi, waterlogging unleashes traffic chaos

Delhi continued to reel under massive traffic jams due to waterlogging as heavy rains lashed the city for second consecutive day today flooding several arterial roads and leaving commuters stranded for hours while exposing civic bodies' lack of preparedness to deal with the perennial problem.
The Met office said the city received a total of around 100 mm of rains in the last three days out of which 93.8 mm of rainfall, the highest of season, was recorded since 5:30 PM yesterday.
It said the city is likely to receive more rains in the next couple of days.
Heavy overnight rains resulted in waterlogging in areas across the city and commuters had to face inconvenience because of heavy traffic jams.

Vehicular movement was affected across the city including ITO, Vikas Marg, South Extension, Khanpur, Mahipalpur, Hari Nagar, IIT crossing, Nehru Place, Yusuf Sarai Market and Munirka.
Traffic also crawled at various major intersections such as Laxmi Nagar, Kashmere Gate, Dwarka, Dhaula Kuan, Sarai Kale Khan, Moolchand, Karkarduma, Rajghat, Kalindi Kunj among others.

In some areas, rainwater flooded the basements of flats. Trees were uprooted in many areas, while vehicles broke down on many roads causing traffic snarls. The city witnessed heavy traffic jams yesterday also.
Workers from the Public Works Department and municipal corporations were seen trying to drain out water from the roads in various areas.

Vehicular movement was slow in Najafgarh, Dhansa, Chhawla, Nangloi, Delhi Gate and Naraina too.
Roads and bylanes in several localities were submerged due to choked drains while in many areas traffic signals did not function properly.
Localities in and around Yamuna Vihar, Yamuna Pushta also faced problems due to accumulation of water.
Delhi government had yesterday launched a 24X7 helpline to address complaints of waterlogging. The BJP-ruled civic bodies have blamed Delhi government for waterlogging alleging that it did not desilt the clogged drains.
The Delhi government said faulty drainage system was responsible for flooding of roads.
The heavy downpour brought down the minimum temperature to 23 degree Celsius as against yesterday's 26.2 degrees.