Waist-deep flooding brings parts of Capital to its knees

There was, however, no marked change in the condition of the national capital after rain on both days. Just like July 19, several areas in the national Capital on Thursday were inundated, traffic jams were reported from arterial roads and the government agencies indulged in a blame game.

The Safdarjung rain observatory had registered a record on July 19 -- 74.88mm, the highest rain in a day for July in five years. It again registered a record on Thursday -- 83.8mm, the highest rain for August in 24 hours since 2013.

A cyclist makes his way while a bus is seen partially submerged at Zakhira underpass.

There was, however, no marked change in the condition of the national capital after rain on both days. Just like July 19, several areas in the national Capital on Thursday were inundated, traffic jams were reported from arterial roads and the government agencies indulged in a blame game.

According to official reports, at least 70 areas -- including residential and market places -- were inundated and a minimum of 10 main road stretches such as Mathura Road, Vikas Marg reported long traffic jams. The civic and road-owning agencies maintained that they made adequate arrangements and promptly pumped out water accumulated on main roads, lanes and streets in the market and residential areas.

Delhi traffic police said that with the overnight shower, traffic was severely hit, especially during the peak rush hours of the morning. The affected stretches included Mathura Road, Ring Road, Vikas Marg, Sarai Kale Khan, Mayapuri, Raja Garden, Najafgarh-Uttam Nagar Road, Pankha Road, Madhuban Chowk among others.

Incidents of tree felling were reported from around 30 places in the city, civic officials said.

A Delhi government spokesperson did not respond to queries regarding the repeated waterlogging and poor drainage in the city.

A senior Public Works Department (PWD) official said water-logging on the Ring Road stretch between IP flyover and WHO building -- one of the worst hit stretches -- occurred due to rain and overflow of a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) sewer line. “A sewer line of the DJB along the Ring Road was probably chocked and overflowed due to heavy rain and the entire stretch was submerged. It also affected traffic movement in the area. We immediately pressed our pumps into service and pumped out the water from the street,” the official said.

DJB officials, however, said the Ring Road trunk sewer was not choked. They said the 22-km-long line begins from Red Fort Crossing and leads up to Maharani Bagh. “During heavy rain, the stormwater enters sewerage system from various locations and it starts overflowing at the lowest topographical point at ITO. Despite maximum pumping at Ring Road station, it takes considerable time to manage,” the DJB said in a statement.

In Sadar Bazar wholesale market, stormwater entered shops and submerged streets as drains overflowed. Paramjeet Singh Pamma, vice-chairman, Federation of Sadar Bazar Traders, said due to heavy rain not only streets got submerged, the water also entered shops. “In the morning, when we reached the market there was ankle-deep water inside the shops due to overnight rain. It was because the drains of the area are not cleaned properly. Every monsoon, this situation arises. We have raised this matter with concerned authorities a number of times but there has been no action,” Pamma said.