Waterlogging, snarls fail to dampen Janmashtami cheer

The downpour, which continued until Monday evening, caused waterlogging in many parts of the city leaving many arterial roads, lanes and by-lanes flooded.

Heavy rain in Delhi-NCR on Monday, which, coincidentally, also happened to be Janmashtami, a festival widely celebrated across the country, led to traffic crawling for most part of the day. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy rain over the next 48 hours.

Vehicles wade through waterlogged street after heavy rain at Sarita Vihar underpass, in New Delhi on Monday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

The downpour, which continued until Monday evening, caused waterlogging in many parts of the city leaving many arterial roads, lanes and by-lanes flooded.

In the morning, commuters faced severe congestion at several junctions across the city.

Twitter and other social media forums were flooded with complaints of vehicles getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. “Rains in Noida have gone bonkers this morning, have had to drive like a snail,” Aahna Sharma posted on Twitter.

In Delhi, commuters complained of heavy congestion in Laxmi Nagar, Geeta Colony, Patparganj, Lajpat Nagar, Old Delhi railway station, Yusuf Sarai, Dhaula Kuan, Rajouri Garden. At Ashram, vehicles were stuck in the carriageway towards All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Other areas affected by jams were Vikas Marg, Patparganj Road, Sri Aurobindo Marg and MB Road.Senior traffic officials said towards evening, the jams got worse in areas near temples and parks where residents had gathered to celebrate Janmashtami.

The heavy rain also led to a drop in mercury — from 29 degrees Celsius around 10am to 26 degrees Celsius by afternoon. “There is a forecast of showers of varying intensity. The rain is likely to continue for another two or three days,” a senior Met official said.

The IMD data shows that 8.7mm rain was recorded at the Palam observatory, while Safdarjung recorded a rainfall of 35.9mm between Sunday evening and Monday. Delhi has received above normal rain in August and has been seeing widespread rainfall over the past three days.

The rain has been attributed to the cyclonic circulation over Haryana and adjoining areas, along with the axis of the monsoon trough, which is seen in close proximity of Delhi and its suburbs. “We can say that more rain is likely in the coming few days. In fact, heavy rain is expected over parts of Delhi-NCR during the next 24 hours,” the official said.

The monsoon trough is expected to shift slightly southwards before the weekend and, accordingly, rainfall activity will also reduce in Delhi.

Monsoon arrived in Delhi on June 28. Between July 1 and August 28, Delhi received 458.3 mm rain.

Sunday’s maximum temperature was recorded at 28 degrees Celsius, six notches below the season’s average, while the minimum temperature settled at 26 degrees Celsius, the season’s average.