Every deluge, same Gurugram story: Flooded roads, stranded commuters

The city recorded 75 mm rain in Gurugram tehsil, with flooding reported across major roads and dozens of residential sectors on Monday.

Heavy rain lashed several parts of the Gurugram, once again triggering widespread waterlogging, inundating roads and exposing the city’s chronic drainage problems. The administration urged all corporate offices, private institutions and all government offices and schools to work from home on August 25 until further notice.

At least 14 school buses remained stuck for over four hours, while an ambulance took more than 90 minutes to cover just 7km on Sohna Road. (ANI)

According to the district administration, Gurugram tehsil recorded 75 mm of rainfall between 8am and 3pm, while the India Meteorological Department’s Gurugram North Cap University station logged 38 mm of rain from 8.30am to 5.30pm on Monday. Waterlogging was reported at several key junctions and arterial roads with traffic particularly affected around Rajiv Chowk, Narsinghpur, IFFCO Chowk, Sirhaul border, NH-48, Sohna Road, Sheetla Mata Road and parts of Old Gurugram.

Waterlogging around Rajiv Chowk and on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway disrupted movement on one of the city’s busiest corridors, while stretches of Old Delhi Road, Railway Road, Basai Road and Mehrauli Road also witnessed prolonged congestion.

(Video grab) Commuters wade through a flooded stretch of Sheetla Mata Road on Monday. (ANI )

The situation was compounded by stranded vehicles, school buses, and ambulances on waterlogged stretches. Golf Course Road, including stretches outside The Magnolias and The Camellias, Sohna Road and other major corridors, were also inundated, forcing commuters to drive slowly through deep water and backing up traffic considerably. Malibu Town, Sector 49, MG Road and the Gurugram bus depot were severely waterlogged, bringing traffic to a standstill. Dhankot Village road was barricaded due to heavy waterlogging. Several school vans broke down on Sheetla Mata Road, leaving children stranded for hours until their parents arrived to pick them up.

Massive traffic snarl on Rajiv Chowk-Sohna Road on Monday. (ANI Video Grab)

In the evening, there was a 4 km long traffic jam on Sohna Road near Islampur Village. Traffic police said teams were deployed on the ground and route diversions would be considered wherever necessary.

“Our teams are working to manage traffic effectively. Required deployment has been done on ground. During the continuous heavy rainfall in Gurugram, Gurugram Traffic Police monitored waterlogged areas and major roads with the help of drones,” said Gurugram Traffic Police spokesperson Vikas Verma.

At least 14 buses were stuck at Subash Chowk for over four hours on Monday, forcing drivers and staff to carry children to the roadside. As a result, residents said their children reached home hours later than usual. At Subhash Chowk near Rail Vihar, school buses were stranded. Taruna Bhatia, a Sector 70 resident, said her child had been stuck since 1pm. “Our children have been stranded on waterlogged roads, and it is very worrying,” she said.

Reema Srivastava said her child, a class 4 student, and her classmates were stuck at Subash Chowk for over three hours. “Gurugram is not capable of surviving even three hours of downpour. It is a matter of our children’s safety,” she said.

This, despite GMDA claiming it had strengthened drainage infrastructure and addressed waterlogging at vulnerable points.

In response, GMDA executive engineer Vikram Kalkal said. “The drains constructed by the authority took the water as per their design parameters but the water was too much. The water gradually cleared at Narsinghpur, Subash Chowk and Sheetla Mata Road as well in four to five hours. The newly constructed drain at Tau Devi Lal stadium also helped but the system will get affected due to such intense rainfall.”

Not only key stretches, but residential areas too were inundated with rainwater, including sectors 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 10A, 12, 14, 17A, 23, 29, 34, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 52, 65, 67 and 69, Mianwali Colony and Ashok Vihar Phase 3

Sagar Bhola, president of the South City-1 Residents Welfare Association (RWA), told HT that he had gone to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) office in Sector 34 for a meeting. “After the meeting, when other residents and I stepped out, the entire MCG office premises was waterlogged. There was so much water outside the office that our vehicles could not move. We had to leave our vehicles behind and take autorickshaws home,” he said.

Col Surender Yadav (Retired), president of the Uppal Southend RWA in Sector 49, said. “Desilting has happened only on paper. Our RWA has installed nine pumps to drain out the water. The MCG’s response time is so slow that we had to install our own pumps.”

MCG officials said that the municipal commissioner Pradeep Dahiya, along with other officials, inspected several waterlogging-prone areas across the city on Monday.

“We have deployed pumps and suction tankers at all vulnerable points, as well as at locations where residents have reported waterlogging. Teams are continuously working to pump out the accumulated water from residential areas and other affected stretches,” an MCG official told HT.

Several ambulances were caught in traffic on Sohna Road, NH-48 and Subhash Chowk. An ambulance driver said it took more than 90 minutes to cover a 7km stretch on Sohna Road.

Severe waterlogging near Magnolias, Camellias

Severe waterlogging was also reported in DLF Phase 3 Block V, near The Magnolias and The Camellias, and parts of Golf Course Road. Residents reported knee-deep water outside The Magnolias, while the DLF underpass near Cyber Hub was heavily flooded. HT reached out to DLF for a response but received none till publication.

School buses remain stuck at Subhash Chowk on . (HT)

New wall by GMDA collapses

A wall in Gurugram’s Sector 22 collapsed because of the downpour. It had been constructed last week by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) after the existing wall collapsed on August 5. A vendor cart fell into the cavity, though no injuries were reported.

Kalkal told HT, “The wall was newly constructed and did not even get time to dry up completely before Monday, causing the structure to fall again. GMDA will take up the work again.”

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not issued any weather warnings for the coming week, according to its latest media bulletin. Gurugram recorded a minimum temperature of 27°C and a maximum temperature of 32°C.