Another spell of rain, another day of flooded roads in Gurugram

The shower also triggered the season’s sixth road cave-in, delayed school buses and prompted an orange alert for more heavy to very heavy rain on Wednesday.

Thirty-five millimetres of rainfall was enough to bring parts of Gurugram to a crawl on Tuesday, with waterlogging reported across major roads and residential areas, traffic snarls disrupting commutes and another road cave-in adding to the city’s monsoon woes.

Moderate rainfall caused widespread flooding, delayed school buses and left commuters stranded. Heavy to very heavy rain is forecast on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The worst-hit areas included the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway near Narsinghpur, Subhash Chowk, parts of the Gurugram-Faridabad Road, NH-48 and the Sirhaul border, where vehicles crawled through waterlogged carriageways. Commuters said journeys that usually take 20 to 30 minutes stretched to more than an hour.

“Minor traffic disruptions were reported due to rain and waterlogging in several areas, but all our teams are on the ground to manage the traffic. The situation so far is under control,” assistant commissioner of police, traffic (headquarters and highways), Satpal Yadav told HT.

Traffic police personnel remained deployed at NH-48, the Dwarka Motorway, Sohna Road, Golf Course Road, MG Road, the Delhi-Gurugram border and other major intersections and waterlogging-prone stretches to regulate traffic, officials said.

According to the district administration, Gurugram tehsil recorded 35 mm of rainfall between 8am to 5pm on Tuesday. Wazirabad received 49 mm, Sohna recorded the highest rainfall at 86 mm, while Kadipur and Harsaru received 27 mm each. Manesar recorded 21 mm.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has placed Gurugram under an orange alert for Wednesday, forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall. On Tuesday, the district recorded a minimum temperature of 27.4°C and a maximum of 31.6°C.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Gurugram recorded 36 mm of rainfall, which falls under the “moderate rain” category. On Tuesday, Gurugram’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) deteriorated to the “moderate” category, recording a reading of 111 at 4pm, up from 96 (”satisfactory”) at the same time on Monday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app.

Commuters face snarls

Vehicles wade through a waterlogged stretch during rain on the Sector-14/17 dividing road near MDI Chowk on Tuesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The rain also disrupted school transportation, with several buses caught in traffic snarls and students reaching home late after dispersal. Richa Sareen, a resident of Uniworld Garden 1 on Sohna Road, said her child reached home nearly an hour late. “The school had timely dispersal, but due to the rain, traffic congestion and waterlogging, the bus was stuck and kept on having multiple halts.”

Swati Sharma, a resident of Tata Raisina in Sector 59, said poor road conditions compounded the problem. “The roads of Sector 59 are in very bad shape. There are potholes on both sides of the roads, and the school buses cannot enter. Yesterday a school bus was stuck in one of the potholes for a few minutes with children inside it,” she said.

Residents said some schools advanced dispersal timings in view of the weather.

A school bus skid off road on a waterlogged stretch at Palam Vihar on Tuesday. (PTI)

Meanwhile, a section of Revenue Road in Sector 59 caved in on Tuesday, taking the number of road cave-ins reported in Gurugram this monsoon to six. HT had earlier reported that a sewage pipeline was being laid along the road, which serves as the only narrow access connecting several residential condominiums to the main road. Residents alleged the work was being carried out in a shoddy manner.

An MCG sub-divisional official (SDO) said the excavated stretch had been filled with soil and was being strengthened before it caved in during the rain. “The excavated portion had been filled with soil and was being stabilised, but it caved in due to the rain. Repair work has been underway since Tuesday afternoon, and teams are working to restore the road,” he said, asking not to be named.

Residential areas left flooded

Residents said several sectors continued to face recurring waterlogging despite repeated complaints and assurances from civic authorities.

RK Jaiswal, a Sector 69 resident, said, “Darbaripur Lane and the Sector 69 red light on the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) remained inundated for hours after rainfall.”

Residents also identified another chronic hotspot near Euro International School in Sector 10.

“The roads remain inundated, making it difficult for pedestrians and two-wheeler riders to pass through. This stretch gets waterlogged even after just 20 minutes of rainfall,” said Riya Khandelwal, a commuter.

Residents also reported waterlogging at Sheetla Mata Mandir Road, MDI Chowk, near Iffco Chowk metro station, Narsinghpur on NH-48, from Millennium City Centre metro station towards Bakhtawar Chowk and Wazirabad. Heavy waterlogging was also reported in Dundahera village, Sectors 9 and 9A, Sector 4-7 Chowk, the Medanta underpass and Sushant Lok 2.

In response, Pradeep Dahiya, MCG commissioner, said, “The corporation continuously monitored the situation and deployed suction tankers, pumps, manpower and machinery to drain accumulated rainwater.”

Neha Sharma, GMDA spokesperson, said, “The waterlogging at the Dwarka Expressway underpass is due to a 50-60 metre depressed stretch that was earlier kept below the required road level because of overhead high-tension power lines. Since the HT lines have now been removed, we will raise the carriageway to the required level after the monsoon. At Bakhtawar Chowk, water stagnation usually clears within one to one-and-a-half hours, depending on the intensity of the rainfall. Minor waterlogging was also reported in Khandsa Chowk, but it was removed promptly by the teams.” Sharma added several key locations across Gurugram, including Narsinghpur, SPR, AIT Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Medanta Road and Dhanwapur, remained free from waterlogging during today’s rainfall.