Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 9 (IANS) The Indian capital came to a virtual halt Friday morning as four hours of torrential downpour flooded streets and numerous neighbourhoods, crippled traffic and left a young girl dead.

The girl died when the boundary wall of an MCD hospital collapsed in Gautam Colony in Narela in west Delhi, police said. Nineteen old buildings were damaged and nearly 20 trees collapsed.

The drencher began before dawn and continued till about 8.30 a.m., the India Meteorological Department said. But heavy rains continued in several areas well up to 11 a.m.

There was chaos on Delhi’s roads.

With traffic signals failing and several streets turning into near rivers due to clogged drains, traffic crawled initially and then, in many places, came to a standstill, leading to frayed tempers.

Vehicles trying to bypass choked main roads jammed nearby narrow lanes.
Stretches of roads caved in central Delhi near the Income Tax Office and at Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi.

Drenched traffic policemen barely balancing their umbrellas struggled to manage the roads. Many motorists flouted rules by barging into side lanes.

“This is the worst I have seen in this city in a long, long time,” autorickshaw driver Babuddin told IANS. “Until now I was praying for rains and now I am praying for the rains to stop.”

Water entered the bustling inter-state bus terminus at Kashmere Gate in north Delhi and the nearby Tiz Hazari Metro station.

“I found my entire area submerged,” 27-year-old Annie Rehman from Dibrugarh, Assam, told IANS. “It was like being back in Assam where we see floods.”

Among the worst hit places was the heart of Delhi, areas near the parliament house and roads leading to Connaught Place.

Parts of south Delhi, housing posh colonies like Vasant Vihar, fared no better.

There were major jams on roads leading out of Delhi to Gurgaon in Haryana and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

In populous Laxmi Nagar and Geeta colony in east Delhi, residents waded through knee deep water. Underpasses of flyovers turned into dirty pools.

Autorickshaw drivers either refused to play or fleeced customers.

Some people naturally preferred to stay at home.

“Don’t go out, Delhi roads are in a mess because of water-logging. Thanks to our civic agencies,” Kriti Munjal cried out on Facebook.

A Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) official pleaded helplessness, and said other civic agencies were equally to blame for the mess.

With road traffic badly hit, Delhi Metro proved to be a boon although some delays were reported on the network’s elevated lines.

Experts said Delhi would get more rains for the next 48 hours.

A total of 513.9 mm of rain has been recorded in Delhi since the outbreak of monsoon end of June.