Even as the combined effect of Sunday and the downpour lifted the spirits of Delhiites, the inevitable traffic snarls due to water-logging and break down of vehicles played spoilsport in several parts of the city forcing many to either abandon or reschedule their holiday/weekend plans.
According to a senior weather official, the city received around 36.6 mm of rain on Sunday. Also the mercury settled at a comfortable 23.7 degrees Celsius--four notches below the season’s average while the maximum temperature during the day was 34 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, although the familiar sight of long queues of vehicles usually seen during weekdays was not witnessed, the opening of the skies quite early in the morning caused jams in different stretches of the Ring Road as well as on the ones leading to the two terminals of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
“There was water logging in Munirka, near Nizamuddin railway station, on Safdarjung and Prahladpur flyovers,” said a traffic officer. There were also similar complaints from areas such as Laxmi Nagar, Karol Bagh, ITO and Kashmere Gate where commuters remained stuck for much longer durations than usual.
Other areas where heavy jams were reported included Vasant Kunj, Mathura Road and MB road. On Mathura Road, the problems were compounded as the roads were left awash due to a metro project along the road from CRRI to Ashram Chowk. “I was going towards Munirka from Mahipalpur using the Nelson Mandela Marg but looking at volume of traffic on the road, I took the relatively less crowded Aruna Asaf Ali Marg instead,” said Shankar, an auto driver.
Uprooting of trees in places including Dwarka also caused chaotic situation as traffic slowed down till the time the roads were cleared. Policemen in some areas where pickets are placed and checks carried out even during the day time were seen taking refuge in the nearby bus-shelters as it rained heavily.
