Incessant rain pours misery on NCR-Delhi commuters

Incessant rain lashed the National Capital Region (NCR) for hours on Wednesday, deluging the arterial roads of Delhi-NCR and resulting in traffic snarls and chaotic scenes at many places.

Vehicular traffic moved at a snail's pace due to waterlogging on key road stretches. According to the Delhi Traffic Police, two buses, including a DTC bus, broke down near the Taj Hotel while one mechanic motor vehicle broke down near Dhaula Kuan on Wednesday.

Waterlogging was also reported on the Bhairon Road, Ring Road, MB Road, the area from Civil Lines to Mall Road, beneath the Munirka Metro station, Mathura Road, Chandgiram Akhara Ring Road, and Loni Golchakkar, among other places.

Early on Wednesday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had warned that continuous rain could result in water accumulation in the low-lying areas, traffic disruption, and increased chances of vehicle accidents. It had requested people to step out only after checking the weather advisories.

According to the data with Delhi's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, the Safdarjung observatory -- which provides representative figures for the city -- recorded a rainfall of 22.4 mm since 11.30 am.

Lodhi Road, Ridge, Palam and Ayanagar weather stations recorded 16 mm, 34 mm, 44 mm and 60 mm precipitation, respectively. The weather bureau said that it will continue to rain till August 22.

Being a working day, the continuous rain created problems for two-wheeler riders, with many waiting under flyovers to escape the downpour.

"I have been waiting for more than two hours for the rain to stop, but to no avail. The road is now filling up with water," lamented Tejas Singh, stuck near the Delhi-Noida Expressway.

People also took to Twitter to share pictures and videos of their rainy experiences. Many shared pictures of waterlogged lanes and traffic snarls, others thought it was a perfect time to relish piping hot 'chai' and 'pakodas'. #DelhiRains and #GurgaonRains trended on Twitter.

One user wrote: "Going to the office after 5 months. World may have changed since then, but the Delhi-Gurgaon border hasn't," with pictures of waterlogged streets.

Another person posted a video of a car submerged in water in Gurugram. One person based in Gurugram posted a video to seek help after rainwater gushed into his house.

The Gurugram Traffic Police alerted that there is heavy waterlogging on certain stretches of roads but assured that police officials are on the spot to facilitate the flow of traffic.

Waterlogging was reported from areas like the Old Delhi road in front of Maruti Gate-1, Unitech Cyber Park, Sector 4 and 5 roundabout, Jawala Mill Road and Golf Course Road in Gurugram.

The silver lining, however, is that the rainy morning brought down the mercury in the national capital. The maximum and minimum temperature hovered over 32 and 27 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The air quality is in the 'good' category, with the particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 and 10 microns, which are too small to be filtered out of the body, mounting to 23 and 49 micrograms per cubic metre.