Deluge gridlocks Delhi-Ggm highway, police advises WFH

New Delhi/GurugramThe combination of a low-pressure system and a western disturbance brought about Delhi-NCR’s first spell of heavy rainfall on Tuesday, plunging several localities of the Capital under water for a short spell and bringing Gurugram to its knees, as usual, with the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway severely gridlocked until late Tuesday

New Delhi/Gurugram

Traffic snarl on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway late Tuesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The combination of a low-pressure system and a western disturbance brought about Delhi-NCR’s first spell of heavy rainfall on Tuesday, plunging several localities of the Capital under water for a short spell and bringing Gurugram to its knees, as usual, with the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway severely gridlocked until late Tuesday.

In an advisory issued around 10pm, the Gurugram Police urged corporate companies to allow employees to work from home amid adverse weather.

“In view of the continuous rainfall in Gurugram and the forecast of further heavy rain over the coming days, there is a strong possibility of waterlogging and severe traffic congestion. To ensure public safety, reduce unnecessary traffic…We strongly urge the corporate sector and private establishments to allow their employees to work from home for the next few days,” Gurugram police said in a post on X.

Cars went under water on main roads and a road cave-in disrupted traffic in Gurugram. Heavy traffic was reported on roads connecting Delhi and Noida due to the sudden downpour. There were also instances of trees falling on cars in Delhi.

While Delhi’s base weather station at Safdarjung recorded only 11.9mm of rainfall, classified as “light rain”, multiple stations across the city recorded moderate to heavy spells. Until 5.30pm on Tuesday, Najafgarh recorded 76mm of rainfall, Ridge recorded 50.1mm, and Pusa and Chhattarpur recorded 41.5mm each.

Neighbouring Gurugram, meanwhile, recorded 69mm of rainfall.

To be sure, IMD classifies a spell of rainfall as “heavy” when the total rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period is between 64.5mm and 115.5mm.

Experts attributed the increased rainfall to the upward movement of a low-pressure area over central parts of the country. “Due to that, the monsoon trough is shitting northward. A western disturbance is also pulling the monsoon northward. Strong rains weren’t there for the past few days as a lifting mechanism wasn’t strong earlier. There will be an increase in rainfall in the coming few days due to the monsoon axis moving north. After this week however, rainfall will decrease due to the axis moving north of its normal position, to the foothills of Himachal,” said Ashwary Tiwari, founder of Indianmetsky weather.

Delhi’s waterlogging hot spots of Minto Bridge, Zakhira Underpass and Kishanganj rail underbridge were relatively free of waterlogging, but Old Delhi roads were submerged in knee-deep water. The worst affected was Teliwara area of Sadar Bazar, where water entered shops and caused business loss. Waterlogging was also severe near Deputy Gang, halting traffic temporarily.

Two complaints of waterlogging and two of tree felling were reported from Lutyens’ Delhi, while the MCD area recorded five complaints of falling trees. In East of Kailash, a eucalyptus tree damaged a Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota Rumion; four people inside the Toyota Rumion had a narrow escape as they managed to exit the vehicle in time.

In east Delhi, the Pandav Nagar Underpass on Patparganj Road was also severely waterlogged, bringing traffic to a standstill.

Mercury dip

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 37.2°C on Tuesday, but the rainfall effect could be gauged through the heat index (HI) or “real feel temperature”. An HI of 47.5°C at 11.30am fell to 32.3°C at 2.30pm and 25.6°C at 5.30pm, even as the humidity of 60% in the morning increased to 100%.

HI is a measurement to indicate what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with air temperature. The higher the humidity, the higher the heat index.

On the other hand, Tuesday’s minimum temperature of 30°C was the highest minimum recorded in July since 2024, when it was 30.4°C on July 31. It is likely to see a significant dip to 21°C to 23°C on Wednesday, as per the IMD forecast.

Further rainfall over the week is expected to bring down the maximum temperature to 32-34°C.

(with inputs from Gurugram and Noida)