Heavy rain lashes Gurgaon, more showers likely this week

The rain disrupted traffic movement on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway

The city received heavy rain on Monday afternoon, bringing residents some much needed respite from the hot and humid weather over the last few days. However, the downpour led to snarls, power cuts and waterlogging in some areas.

Commuters were caught unawares by the heavy rain in Gurgaon on Monday. (Parveen Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said there could be more heavy showers in the offing throughout this week.

Although the rain occurred between 2.30pm and 4.30pm during non-peak hours, it did disrupt traffic movement along the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. Traffic movement from Manesar to New Delhi was reduced to a crawl, as part of National Highway 8, near Hero Honda Chowk and Rajiv Chowk, was flooded.

By evening hours, Gurgaon police sent out messages on social media, alerting commuters on the slow moving traffic.

“Traffic alert: Rainfall all across the city, traffic is slow but no major traffic jams. Motorists advised to be careful & patient (sic),” Gurgaon police tweeted.

Apart from traffic disruptions, the rain also led to outages in few areas such as Palam Vihar, South City 1, sector 54 and DLF Phase 1, as power lines tripped. According to officials of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (DHBVN), power was restored in these areas after the rains eased up.

The heavy rains on the day dragged the mercury down and brought residents some relief from the heat. IMD officials said the city recorded a maximum temperature of 30°C on Monday, while the minimum temperature was 27.8°C. The maximum temperature on Sunday was 36°C and minimum was 28°C.

Read I Gurgaon: Heavy rain likely today, brace for flooded roads

“A depression has developed over North India. Thunderstorm and rainfall is expected to prevail this week,” an IMD official said.

With the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) undertaking measures to keep waterlogging in the city to a minimum this year, most areas, apart from Jharsa village and Palam Vihar, remained free of waterlogging on Monday.

For residents, Monday’s rainfall was a relief they had all been waiting for.

“I had shut myself indoors and didn’t even step out on Sunday, as the heat was intolerable. The rainfall brought some relief, as I could open the windows and let the cool breeze come in,” Aarti Periwal, a resident of DLF Phase 1, said.