First spell of monsoon wreaks havoc in Delhi: 1 dead, ‘yellow’ alert issued for Sunday  

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a ‘yellow’ alert for Delhi on Sunday (July 9), a day after the national capital received its first spell of heavy monsoon, which created mayhem in residential and commercial areas, inundated roads and drains, paralysing traffic for hours.

On Sunday, the city woke up to more showers as moderate to heavy rain continued to lash several neighbourhoods and adjoining areas.

More rains predicted

The IMD has also forecast high-intensity showers to lash the city for the next two days.

“Thunderstorms with light to moderate intensity rain would occur over adjoining areas of isolated places of Delhi,” IMD tweeted on Sunday.

#WATCH | Severe waterlogging near Gurugram's Subhash Chowk as the city continues to receive heavy rain#Haryana pic.twitter.com/DjdUL5CPuE

— ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2023

Rainfall has been predicted in Narela, Alipur, Rohini, Badili, Pitampura, Paschim Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Kashmiri Gate, Seelampur, Rajauri Garden, Red Fort, Rajeev Chauk, ITO and Jafarpur.

The Met department on Saturday had sounded an ‘orange’ alert for the national capital.

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The heavy spell of rains led to the death of a woman, who was crushed to death after the ceiling of her house collapsed on her in Karol Bagh locality, while the control room of the Delhi Fire Services reportedly at least 15 calls of house collapse incidents.

The Safdarjung observatory, the city’s primary weather station, recorded 126.1 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm. According to Delhi government officials, the city received more than 100 mm rain in a single day, which is 15 per cent of the total rainfall it gets every monsoon.

“This much water cannot be drained while the rain is still on,” they said, adding that once the rain stopped, the water was cleared rapidly.

The morning rain that continued for several hours led to water gushing into the storerooms of the city’s most popular shopping destination, Connaught Place, and a closure of the Minto Bridge underpass for traffic due to waterlogging.

Rains come as dampener ahead of G20 Summit

The mess caused by the rain also exposed the preparations of various civic bodies ahead of September, when six G20 Summit events, including the summit meeting, are scheduled to take place in the national capital.

Motorists and pedestrians had a hard time navigating waterlogged roads, flyovers and footpaths, while traders faced trouble stopping the rain water entering their shops in several areas.

Meanwhile, the traffic department received 56 calls related to waterlogging, six regarding fallen trees and five related to potholes, it said.

The Minto Bridge underpass has been closed for vehicular traffic due to the incessant rains that have led to waterlogging. Heavy waterlogging was also reported from the Tilak Bridge underpass. Waterlogging was reported from the Pandav Nagar underpass, Purana Quila Road, Dwarka Link Road, NH-48 near Shiv Murti, Rohtak Road, Vikas Marg, under the AIIMS flyover, under the Moolchand flyover, Mother Teresa Crescent-Sardar Patel Marg and under Tilak Bridge among other places, the traffic police said.

The calls related to fallen trees were received from Jantar Mantar Road, Chandgi Ram Akhara, Amrita Shergil Marg, DDU Marg, Dhirpur Main Road and Mother Teresa Crescent. Sunlight Colony, Raja Puri, Bharat Darshan Park, the Shadipur metro station and the Buta Singh roundabout were the locations from where the pothole-related calls were received, the traffic police said.

Two areas within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) also reported incidents of trees falling. Some of the areas that reported waterlogging are Harijan Colony in Kalkaji, Jangpura extension, Nabi Karim in Paharganj and Gautam Puri in Shahdara, according to MCD officials.

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Meanwhile, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) reported 24 cases of waterlogging and fallen trees. According to the data shared by NDMC officials, five trees were uprooted and 11 incidents of broken branches recorded in Lutyens Delhi.

According to the Fire Department, 30 people were rescued from Saraipur DDA flats near Tis Hazari court after a portion of a building in the locality collapsed in the wee hours of Saturday.

Uprooting of trees, waterlogging reported

Amit Gupta, a trader at Connaught Place, said the tall claims of Delhi being a Smart City are exposed every year during monsoon, when shops get flooded and the traders face losses.

New Delhi Traders Association president Atul Bhargava claimed that the “faulty” Panchkuian road slope directs rain water towards Connaught Place and no action has so far been taken by the authorities in this regard.

“This was the first spell of heavy rain and many shopkeepers are trying to save their goods. The same scene was witnessed during monsoon before the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bhargava said.

In a statement, the Delhi Traffic Police said calls regarding traffic congestion, failure of traffic signals and waterlogging as well as uprooting of trees and potholes on roads were received at the traffic control room.

Incidents of power failure were also reported from many parts of the city, which resulted in non-functioning of signals and manning of signalised intersections by traffic personnel, it said.

The traffic control room flashed messages to all traffic officers to mobilise maximum number of staff, motorcycle patrol teams and cranes in the field to ensure manual regulation of traffic at the intersections where there was no power supply, remove broken down vehicles, uprooted trees and restore normal traffic, the statement said.

Messages through the traffic control room were also flashed to the control rooms of other civic agencies, such as the horticulture departments of the NDMC, PWD and MCD.

Also read: Monsoon covers entire country six days earlier: IMD

Fallen tree branches were removed from the footpaths and central verges and traffic movement was managed in the best possible manner.
“The operations are still going on,” the statement said.

The public works department (PWD) received 100 complaints of waterlogging. Minto Road was closed for vehicular traffic for half an hour due to a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) drain overflowing.

(With inputs from agencies)