Flooded streets, jams: Same old story in Delhi after heavy showers

Heavy showers on Friday may have given Delhiites respite from the muggy weather but brought the city to a standstill with snarls and waterlogging reported from several areas of the national capital.

Heavy showers on Friday may have given Delhiites respite from the muggy weather but brought the city to a standstill with snarls and waterlogging reported from several areas of the national capital.

Water logging after heavy rain near Zakir Hussain College in New Delhi on Friday. (Arun Sharma/Hindustan Times)

According to the met department, the city recorded 35mm rain between Thursday and Friday evening. It brought down the temperature with the maximum settling at 33 degrees Celsius, one degree below normal.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 26.2 degrees Celsius, one notch below average.

“The next such heavy rain forecast by the IMD is on August 18. Saturday and days that follow are going to remain cloudy with light rain and drizzle likely to occur at few places. The maximum and minimum temperature is likely to hover around 33 and 26 degrees Celsius respectively,” a met official said.

Meanwhile, traffic jams were reported from Durgapur Chowk, Prem Bari Pul to Wazirpur Depot, Loha Mandi in Naraina, AIIMS to Lajpat Nagar, Dhaula Kuan, Punjabi Bagh flyover to Rajouri Garden flyover, and Meerabagh on the Outer Ring Road.

Among other waterlogged areas were, Moti Bagh, Sri Aurobindo Marg, and Hoshiyar Singh Marg.

“On many stretches because of waterlogging on one side of the road, the traffic movement was extremely slow. Additional staff was deployed to manage traffic on several stretches,” said a senior traffic official.

The commuters, however, vented out their angst against the civic bodies and the Delhi government for not being able to tackle the perennial waterlogging problem.

“Due to the long weekend there are fewer cars on road yet we are facing traffic snarls on all major junctions. Every time the city witnesses showers, it shrinks a three lane road to one lane and leads to bottlenecks along all major stretches,” said Dinesh Kumar, a daily commuter.

Traffic moves slowly due to rain near Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi on Friday. (Sushil Kumar/Hindustan Times)