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Slippery roads after drizzle makes motorists call fire department about ‘oil rain’
New Delhi: The light drizzle in Delhi on Sunday evening saw the fire department receive several calls reporting a strange phenomenon: “oil rain”.
New Delhi: The light drizzle in Delhi on Sunday evening saw the fire department receive several calls reporting a strange phenomenon: “oil rain”.
But on attending the calls, the fire department found that it was just a case of roads turning slippery due to rain water mixing with mud and dust, said Atul Garg, director, Delhi Fire Services.
Garg said the fire department received 57 such calls.
“Initially, three or four motorcyclists skid due to slippery roads in the immediate aftermath of the drizzle. They called the fire department, and at the same time rumour spread that there was an ‘oil rain’,” Garg said.
Soon, the fire department was inundated with such calls.
“But it turned out that the sudden rain mixed with the mud on the roads. It also brought down with it the dust in the air. All these together caused the road to turn a little slippery, giving rise to the belief that it was oil rain,” said Garg.
The officer said the calls were received from across Delhi and not from any particular area. There were no immediate reports of any injuries due to the slippery roads.
