First spell of rain floods Gurugram, officials track situation

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) website, Gurugram received 7mm of rainfall on Sunday. The website further said that the city is expected to have spells of rains and thundershowers till Thursday.

The city received its first heavy downpour of the season on Sunday morning, with rain bringing its share of pain for an unprepared city and leaving a bunch of stretches waterlogged.

A spell of heavy rain lashed the city between 3 am and 4 am, and left areas like service lanes of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway at Narsinghpur, Rampura flyover, IFFCO Chowk, Signature Tower, Sector 30/31 exit heavily waterlogged. (AP)

A spell of heavy rain lashed the city between 3 am and 4 am, and left areas like service lanes of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway at Narsinghpur, Rampura flyover, IFFCO Chowk, Signature Tower, Sector 30/31 exit heavily waterlogged. Arterial stretches such as sector 30/31 dividing road, Sheetla Mata Mandir Road, and a spot near Basai Chowk also reported some waterlogging.

Gurugram traffic police later took to the social media to warn commuters about all the waterlogged stretches that should be avoided.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) website, the city received 7mm of rainfall on Sunday. The website further said that the city is expected to have spells of rains and thundershowers till Thursday.

Last Thursday, during a meeting at the PWD rest house, officials of Gurugram police, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), and district administration had identified 35 “most crucial” waterlogging-prone points in the city. Barring Rampura flyover which is located in Manesar, all the other points that witnessed waterlogging on Sunday were part of the 35-point list.

Officials said each of the points that witnessed waterlogging is being monitored via CCTV cameras and teams have been allocated to initiate remedial measures at the earliest.

VS Kundu, chief executive officer (CEO) of GMDA, said he was carrying out a site inspection of all the 35 points on Saturday and Sunday. He said that at some spots, — Vatika Chowk, the highway stretch near Ambience Mall, HUDA City Centre, and Mahavir Chowk — GMDA was waiting for a spell of rainfall in order to gauge the condition of the drains in the area.

“Construction activities are underway at some of these points, due to which there is a possibility that drains could have been clogged or blocked entirely. We were, hence, waiting for the first proper spell of rain to ascertain the time it would take for water to recede so that we could initiate remedial measures accordingly,” said Kundu.

As per GMDA officials privy to the matter, remedial measures include placement of high-power motor pumps to divert rainwater to the nearest drainage outlet, or establishing new drainage lines at these spots entirely.

Even during the construction of underpasses on the e-way between 2016-18, similar practices of waiting until the first spell of rains to predict the drainage conditions of stretches were followed by officials.

As per MCG officials, they had deployed motor pumps at several points across the city and by noon water had receded in most parts of the city.

“At several points, especially those on the arterial stretches, we realised drains had become clogged due to which there was heavy rainwater accumulation. Using super suction machines we were quickly able to remove the silt and other depositions and drain out rainwater. At some of the points on the expressway, drainage was an issue and hence, we used motor pumps to divert the water to the nearest outlet. Barring the Narsinghpur-Khandsa service lanes, rainwater had receded across most parts of the city by noon,” said an MCG official privy to the matter.

With a majority of people staying indoors and working from home amid the Covid-19outbreak, there were no snarls reported on Sunday as the volume of traffic was lower than usual. However, a few commuters did say that they got delayed as they drove on flooded stretches at a low-speed.

“Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, it was taking me less than 25 minutes to drive between Sirhaul and Kherki Daula toll along the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. However, today morning, it took me nearly 40 minutes to cover the same stretch as roads were heavily waterlogged, especially between Hero Honda Chowk and Kherki Daula. I had to drive at a much slower pace and with caution,” said Virender Singh, a resident of sector 82.

Last month HT had reported that the city should brace for waterlogged stretches as authorities are lagging behind on monsoon preparedness as most of the resources and attention had been diverted towards containing the spread of coronavirus.

From March 21 till April 15, MCG had issued an internal order to all its officials to solely focus on ensuring “basic services” such as sanitation, water, sewage, and streetlights, continue to remain uninterrupted during the initial phases of the lockdown. It was only after April 15, that the MCG directed its officials to resume other works, including monsoon preparedness measures, albeit in a limited capacity.

Similarly, GMDA had also followed a similar mode of operation, with tenders for desilting and cleaning key stretches such as Iffco Chowk-Rajiv Chowk stretch, located along the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, Subhash Chowk-Vatika Chowk stretch on Sohna Road and the Bakhtawar Chowk-Subhash Chowk-Sector 34 marble market (located near Hero Honda Chowk) stretch being floated only in end of May.