Rain floods Gurgaon streets, hits traffic, power cuts compound residents’ woes

Met officials attributed the wet weather to a shift in the South West monsoon towards the Himalayan region

Steady drizzle and light showers left several areas of the city waterlogged on Thursday.

Commuters wade through a waterlogged street in Gurgaon’s Sector 48 on Thursday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

The city received 30 mm of rain that brought the temperature down by 2°C from the previous day. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 26.2°C on Thursday.

However, while the rain brought residents some relief from the oppressive heat, it threw the city traffic out of gear as sector roads and some of the major junctions such as the Huda City Centre, Signature Tower Road, Hero Honda Chowk, MG Road and Iffco Chowk grappled with water logging.

Commuters had a tough time as on several roads traffic moved at a snail’s pace due persistent drizzle through the day. Travelling from Huda City Centre towards Rajiv Chowk was a tough task, claimed commuters.

“It took me an hour to reach Rajiv Chowk from Huda Metro at 10.30am. Usually, it is a 15-minute drive,” Ankit Sharma, a corporate executive, said.

Apart from waterlogging and traffic issues, residents complained about long power cuts during the day. In areas such as DLF Phase-3, Ardee City, South City-1, Sector-15 and Sector 30, residents had been grappling with power cuts over the last three days.

“We are facing crisis because of power cuts for several hours and things have only got worse because of the rain. The wires are old and they get damaged because of continuous rain. We have taken up the issue with the electricity department and have demanded that the wires be replaced and more transformers installed,” Dheeraj Kumar, president, Pink Town Houses, U Block, DLF Phase-3, said.

AN official of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) said that they are working on a war footing to address the issue.

“We are upgrading the infrastructure. The work is under way in many parts. However, power cuts are taking place due to local faults and inclement weather. DHBVN is focussing on fixing every fault,” Sanjiv Chopra, chief engineer, DHBVN, said.

Read I Heavy rain lashes Gurgaon, more showers likely this week

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) official, the city is likely to get more rain that may further compound the woes of commuters. The Met Department predicted more rain in the next 24 hours. “The region is receiving rain because of the movement of South West Monsoon towards the Himalayan region,” an IMD official said.

Light rain, accompanied by thunderstorm, is expected to lash the region over the week and sky will remain mostly overcast, Met officials said.