Continuous rain, waterlogging gridlock Gurugram

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, Gurugram received 18mm while Sohna received 57mm of rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Thursday.

Continuous heavy rain on Thursday morning inundated almost the entire city and triggered massive traffic snarl on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway (NH-48) near Narsinghpur which is severely waterlogged, officials said.

Vehicles wade through a waterlogged stretch during heavy rain on the Maharana Pratap Chowk near MDI Institute, in Gurugram on Thursday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Almost all areas and roads of the city extending from Golf Course Road to those along the Dwarka Expressway were inundated from a few inches to upto two feet of water causing vehicles to break down and cause trouble for commuters.

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, Gurugram received 18mm while Sohna received 57mm of rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Thursday. “The city received 12mm of rainfall on average in the previous 24 hours with the majority of it taking place in early Thursday morning,” an IMD official said.

Sheetla Mata road, Bajghera, Sector 110, Old Gurugram, surface roads of Dwarka Expressway, Genpact Chowk, Tulip Chowk, Malibu Towne, Badshahpur bus stand, IMT Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Signature tower, Narsinghpur, Rajiv Chowk, Rampura flyover, Sector 37 road and several other areas of the city remained waterlogged till evening.

Traffic police officials said that the snarl on the carriageway towards Delhi started near Hero Honda Chowk and stretched upto the clover leaf intersection of the Dwarka Expressway connecting to the national highway on Thursday morning.

The traffic jam also took place on the Kargil Shaheed Sukhbir Singh Yadav Marg connecting the NH-48 to Gurugram-Pataudi road as several construction works are ongoing on the damaged stretch. Traffic was also slow at Rajiv Chowk, between Shankar Chowk and Iffco Chowk on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway.

Severe traffic snarl amid rain and waterlogging was reported on the Old Delhi-Gurugram road with people moving towards Delhi, Golf Course Road near Sector 56 chowk, Golf Course Extension Road, Southern Peripheral Road near Tulip Chowk, Faridabad-Gurugram Road near Sadar Bazar locality, Sikandepur, Old Railway road and other areas of the city.

Sudeep Bhattacharya, a resident of DLF Phase-III, said pathetic would be a conservative word for the condition of Gurugram which turns worse everytime it rains. “Power supply also got snapped in the morning which could not be restored even till evening. Garbage is floating everywhere,” he said.

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (traffic headquarters) Satyapal, said that six pumps were running in Narsinghpur which always faces waterlogging due to its topography as it is lower than surrounding areas. “Today’s condition of traffic movement on the highway and the expressways is much better when compared to earlier days when it had rained,” he said.

The ACP said traffic police personnel were deployed at all several key intersections and snarl prone areas for easing up traffic pressure. “At least 10 to 15 vehicles which had broken down in waterlogging were towed away by traffic police using cranes to avoid any jam and to help the distressed vehicle owners,” he said.

“A truck accident took place amid heavy rain on the GCR and a tree was uprooted on the MG road which were removed by the traffic cops at the spot,” he said.

Pradeep Dahiya, MCG commissioner, said that the engineering wing officials were pressed into action to monitor the situation across the city. “Dewatering pumps kept running in several areas to ease the waterlogging. At several places, drains were getting clogged which the ground teams were cleaning immediately,” said Dahiya.

IMD officials said a red-alert was issued for Gurugram, Sohna, Pataudi, Faridabad, Ballabhgarh, Tauru, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani and several other districts of Haryana for heavy rain till Thursday evening.

According to IMD officials, there is a forecast of heavy rainfall in isolated places in Haryana for Friday and Saturday.

Gurugram has received a seasonal rainfall of 384.6mm from June 1 to Thursday which is at least 24% above normal. The maximum temperature of Gurugram was 26.4°C and the minimum was 24.5°C which was also the lowest in entire Haryana on Thursday. The AQI of the city was 104 on Thursday putting it in the moderate category.