Heavy Rains Lash Delhi-NCR, Waterlogging & Traffic Jams Reported in Several Areas

Heavy showers in the national capital and its neighbouring districts of Ghaziabad and Noida led to waterlogging in several areas and also caused traffic snarls in many important roads during morning rush hours, inconveniencing scores of commuters.

The India Meteorological Department issued an alert at 10:05 am for heavy showers in Delhi. Thunderstorms and moderate to heavy rains are expected to continue over Delhi and adjoining areas over the next two hours, it said. The rains may lead to "major traffic disruption" and there is an "increased chance" of road accidents, it further warned.

The Delhi Traffic Police has been providing regular updates through its Twitter handle warning commuters about waterlogging at many roads in the city. According to them, waterlogging was seen at BRT near Central School, Badarpur to Ashram, Badarpur flyover underpass, Sarita Vihar flyover underpass, Dhaula Kuan towards AIIMS carriageway, Moti Bagh flyover underpass, MB Road near Batra Hospital, Palam Flyover and Chhata Rail.

Other places, including Mayur Vihar Phase-2, Sarai Kale Khan to DND, Sashi Garden to Kotla, Seemapuri to Dilshad Garden underpass, MB Road at Maidan Garhi, MB Road at Anuvrat Marg, Apsara Border have also witnessed heavy waterlogging.

The Delhi Traffic Police has advised commuters to not travel through certain stretches of roads where traffic movement has been affected.

Traffic congestion has been reported at Ring road towards Bhairon Marg due to the ongoing construction work.

"Traffic is heavy in the carriageway from Lajwanti flyover towards Dhaula Kuan due to breakdown of a cluster bus near Lajwanti flyover. Motorists heading towards Dhaula Kuan are requested to take Mayapuri Chowk as alternative route," it tweeted.

In a separate tweet, Delhi Traffic Police advised commuters to not opt for the stretch from Liberty Cinema towards Punjabi Bagh due to heavy traffic.

"Traffic is affected at Pul Prahladpur underpass due to water logging," the Delhi Traffic Police said in another tweet.

A house collapsed in Nangloi extension and four fire tenders have been rushed to the spot.

Meanwhile, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, Kuldeep Srivastava, told news agency PTI that the axis of monsoon will continue to be close to the national capital till Thursday. Southwesterly winds from the Arabian Sea and southeasterly winds from the Bay of Bengal are also feeding moisture to the region, he added.

The Safdarjung Observatory, which gives out representative figures for the city, has recorded 139.2 mm rainfall against the normal of 157.1 mm in August so far, a deficiency of 11 per cent. Overall, it has registered 457.8 mm rainfall, six per cent above the normal of 433.2 mm since June 1 when the monsoon season began.

(With PTI inputs)