New Delhi:
It was a rained out morning in Delhi on Wednesday with the season's heaviest showers resulting in several areas being waterlogged and the inevitable traffic snarls. The early morning showers today led to chaos in the city with people wading through knee-deep water in several areas, water seeping into basements and traffic jams on key roads.
The traffic department issued alerts on social networking sites and its website asking people to avoid rain-affected routes.
Traffic officials reported snarls from nearly all parts of the city. The worst affected areas were Wazirpur and Ashok Vihar, Ashram Chowk, Moolchand flyover, Nehru Place, IIT crossing, Yusuf Sarai and Kashmere Gate. Slow traffic movement was reported from several parts of the city like Moti Bagh, AIIMS, IIT crossing to Adhchini, Outer Ring Road under Munirka flyover due to water logging.
(Read: Routes to avoid)"Traffic is badly affected due to potholes near Sarita Vihar metro station and on the service road from Badarpur to Ashram," a traffic department official said.
At least 12 domestic flights were cancelled this morning. However, the airport authority has claimed that flight operations are normal at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport. It said individual airlines took decisions to cancel flights.
In the last 24 hours, Delhi has received its highest rainfall so far this season. The total rainfall recorded this morning till 8.30 am was 59.9 mm. The city recorded another 2.8 mm of rain in only three hours since 8.30 am.
The weather office said more rain is expected in the next couple of days. "The cyclonic development over the National Capital Region triggered incessant rains with dense clouds. This would continue for two days after which it will head towards Uttar Pradesh, Nepal," said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Yesterday the city recorded a total of 43.1 mm of rainfall. The capital was whipped by heavy rain yesterday in the evening, affecting the traffic heavily. The arterial Ring Road and Outer Ring Road, which encircle the national capital, saw flooding at several places, resulting in traffic moving at snail's pace. The situation was also bad on roads connecting Delhi to its satellite towns of Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
(Watch)Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said she is sorry for the inconvenience caused to the people during water-logging on Monday. "We are sorry for yesterday's water-logging... but we can't pray God not to give us rain. Suddenly, there is too much rain this month," she said.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi government to set up a committee to find a short term and a long term solutions for the problem.
The court said the committee should have representatives from all state bodies, that is, the Delhi government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Flood and Irrigation Department, the Railways, and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
South Delhi Mayor Sarita Choudhary, meanwhile, blamed non-cooperation from other civic agencies for the flooding of streets.
"We are doing all we can, but roads more than 60 feet breadth have been taken away from us, what can we do," Choudhary said.
"MCD is doing its work but there is no coordination," she said blaming other agencies like the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
North Delhi Mayor Meera Aggarwal, meanwhile, said that "due to a few hours of heavy downpour, streets might get flooded, but that is not due to storm water drains. There are various other reasons like halting of vehicles and non-functioning of traffic signals".
Spokesperson for North and East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Yogendra Singh Mann had said after Monday's heavy downpour that overhauling of the city's drainage system was needed to overcome the frequent flooding following heavy rains.
Similar weather conditions are expected Wednesday, with the IMD forecasting "generally cloudy sky and one or two spells of rain".
The seasonal average of rain in monsoon in Delhi this year is 415.2 mm, 19 per cent less than the average of 511.2 mm.
However, in the month of August, Delhi has so far received 304.9 mm of rain, which is 30 per cent more than the average 235.1 mm for this period.
(With agency inputs)