Sudden heavy rains during rush hours on Wednesday morning triggered massive traffic jams across Delhi NCR due to water-logging.
Though the roads across the city were flooded due to rains that started around 8 a.m., the worst affected stretches in Delhi were Dhaula Kuan, Bhairon Road to Mathura Road, Roundabout Teen Murti, IGNOU Road, IP Flyover to Sarai Kale Khan, Barapullah flyover towards DND, Ashram Chowk, Ring Road Maharani Bagh, Lajpat Nagar, Sarai Kale Khan, Raja Garden to Mayapuri, Gymkhana to Teen Murti Marg. In Gurgaon, the worst affected areas were Cyber City, Udyog Vihar, Old Delhi Road, Sector 46, Sector 50, Sector 14, Sector 15, Ardee City, Sushant Lok Phase-I, South City-I, Sohna Road and Sheetla Mata Road.
Delhi recorded a rainfall of 62.7 mm till 11.30, while the Delhi airport recorded a rainfall of 55.3 mm. Though road traffic was badly affected, there were no major impact on train movement and flights, except a Qatar Airways Doha-Delhi flight (QR 570) that had to be diverted to Jaipur due to inclement weather.
The commuters and the school children had a harrowing time with the traffic jams causing delays in Gurgaon. Long traffic snarls were witnessed in the DLF Cyber City, which houses some of the top IT and Fortune 500 companies. “I had gone to drop my son to Heritage School in Sector 62. It usually takes me 30 minutes from Sector 14, but today it took me more than an hour to reach the school. And on my way back, it was worse. It took me another two hours to reach home,” said Sandeep Malik, a resident of Sector 14.
Joint Commissioner of Police, Y. Pooran Kumar told The Hindu that more than a thousand police personnel were out on the roads since morning to manage the traffic. “Due to heavy rains, the areas such as Atul Kataria Chowk, Old Delhi Road, South City-II, Apparel House, Palam Vihar, Subhash Chowk are water-logged. The traffic is slow, but no jams,” said Mr. Kumar. Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Khirwar, was also out on the roads monitoring the situation.
The vehicles breaking down in the middle of the roads and the traffic signals at several intersections not working due to rains made the traffic situation worse on some of the roads. “The traffic signal at the Ambedkar Chowk near Sector 50 suddenly stopped working around 9 a.m. and then it was free for all. Soon, there was a complete mess and vehicles got stuck on all sides of the Chowk. There was no policeman around,” said Rakesh Jain, who was caught in the jam.
The situation on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway was no better with the heavy rains again leading to water-logging on the Hero Honda Chowk and slowing down the pace of the traffic. “Besides 27 water pumps and four cranes, we have deployed 60 marshalls at the Chowk and are constantly monitoring the situation. There is around 6-8 inch water on the road at Hero Honda Chowk and we have pressed six water tanks with a capacity of 12,000 litre each to drain out the water,” said T.C. Rao, Chief Managing Director, Skylark Group — the company that manages the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.
