Rains lash Delhi, chaos rules roads

Commuters once again had a harrowing time on Delhi roads today as incessant rains led to water-logging, resulting in traffic snarls and breakdown of vehicles in many areas. The Met office forecast more showers on Wednesday.

Commuters once again had a harrowing time on Delhi roads on Tuesday as incessant rains led to water-logging, resulting in traffic snarls and breakdown of vehicles in many areas. The Met office forecast more showers on Wednesday.

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The city received a rainfall of 14.4 mm till 8.30 am and a further 28.2 mm till 5.30 pm, said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

According to the Delhi Traffic Police, the rains that began on Monday night caused water-logging at Malviya Nagar, Moti Bagh-Hyatt flyover, Naraina T-point, Delhi University's North Campus, Model Town, ITO, Ashram, Moolchand, Mori Gate and Rajouri Garden.

"We have alerted everybody and are doing the best we can. Everything will be sorted out soon," Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said when asked to comment on the water-logging and the resultant chaos.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received 60 calls about water-logging and trees falling since morning.

Traffic was moving at a snail's place in Vasant Vihar, Moolchand, Ashram Chowk, Moti Bagh and parts of north Delhi.

At many places, traffic signals were not working properly, adding to the woes of people heading to their offices but stuck in serpentine jams.

"Our men were spread in parts of the capital from where we received complaints to manage the situation," a Traffic Police official said.

Many troubled commuters expressed their woes on the page of Delhi Traffic Police on social networking website Facebook.

Rajeev Mishra, a user, said: "Adding to the rain woes, many huge vehicles like tempo or truck break down on roads and cause huge traffic problem. During rainy season, breakdown being a common feature, crane services should be provided to clear the vehicle immediately and the traffic police should restore smooth movement of traffic at the earliest."

The rains, however, cooled the city and the maximum dipped five notches below the average to settle at 30 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was a notch below normal at 25.6 degrees, according to a Met department official.

The humidity levels also oscillated between a high of 98 per cent and a low of 79 per cent.

For Wednesday, the weatherman predicted more rains.

"There will be generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers in the next 24 hours. The maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 32 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees, respectively."