Delhi and neighbouring areas have been witnessing rainfall since Wednesday morning.
Many parts of the national capital remained flooded on Thursday as rain continued to drench the city and its neighbouring areas for the second consecutive day, triggering traffic jams during morning rush hours.
Between 8:30 am on Wednesday and 8:30 am on Thursday, Delhi recorded 46 mm rainfall as per the Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city. The Palam weather station gauged 70.9 mm rainfall during the period, more than six times the normal rainfall, according to news agency PTI.
On an average, the city gauges 11.3 mm rainfall from 8:30 am on August 19 to 8:30 am on August 20 every year.
Though the overnight rain brought down the temperature to 27 degrees, residents soon realised the harsh reality of poor state of civic infrastructure in the national capital as they stepped out of their homes.
Heavy traffic disruption was reported on Narela-Bawana road, Raja Garden flyover, Kasturba Underpass, MB Rad, Jhandewalan Mandir, Jhilmil underpass, Azadpur vegetable market, Sarai Pipal Thala, Jahangirpuri and Madanpur Khadar.
"Waterlogging reported at Jhilmil Underpass (both carriageways). Traffic is affected now," informed the Delhi Police on Twitter.
"Traffic Alert: Water logging reported under Raja Garden flyover (both carriageways). Traffic is affected now," it added.
The weather department has predicted thunderstorms with moderate to heavy rain in many places in Delhi in the next few hours. Delhi, Noida and Gurugram have been witnessing heavy showers since Wednesday.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), south-westerly winds from the Arabian Sea and south-easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal are feeding moisture to the region, leading to heavy rain.
"20-08-2020; 0415 IST; Thunderstorm with moderate to heavy rain would continue to occur over many places of entire Delhi, IGI Airport, Dadri, Ghaziabad, Etah, Noida, Greater-Noida, Ballabgarh, Faridabad, Gurugram, Manesar, Sohna, Modinagar, Meerut, Siyana, Gohana, Kharkhoda, Palwal, Hodal, Nuh, Jhajjar, Bulandshahar, Hapur, Gannaur, Farrukh Nagar, Kahrkhoda, Bahadurgarh, Bagpath during the next 2 hours," the IMD tweeted.
Massive traffic jams were seen on Wednesday due to flooding on roads. The situation was particularly bad worse in Gurgaon where cars were seen stranded on submerged roads and underpasses. Visuals of a boat moving on a road in the Haryana city that features offices of leading multi-national companies and sprawling shopping malls, were also widely shared on social media.
"Flooding in Indian cities is largely a product of bad urban planning. In Delhi, the Yamuna floodplains have been encroached upon obstructing the natural water flow. Other issues include deforestation, poor drainage system and lack of integrated urban planning," Anjal Prakash, research director, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, said.
Delhi recorded 139.2 mm rainfall against the normal of 157.1 mm in August so far, a deficiency of 11 per cent, according to the Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city.
Overall, it has recorded 457.8 mm rainfall, six per cent more than the normal of 433.2 mm since June 1 when the monsoon season starts.
With inputs from agencies