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GURGAON: Although heavy showers on Saturday morning brought much-needed reprieve from the muggy weather, it spelt daylong traffic even on a weekend in a city plagued by a persistent waterlogging problem.
It started raining around 5.30am, and the heavy showers continued for two hours. The IMD observatory in the city recorded 77.5mm rainfall till 5.30pm on Saturday. Several areas, including Narsinghpur, Khandsa, Umang Bharadwaj Chowk, Pataudi Road, Basai Chowk and Rajiv Chowk witnessed severe waterlogging. Traffic movement on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway was badly hit as long tailbacks could be seen till Hero Honda Chowk and its ripple effects felt up to Umang Bharadwaj Chowk.
Data from district administration showed that Kadipur and Harsaru recorded the day’s maximum rainfall at 83mm, followed by Gurgaon (67mm), Wazirabad (54mm), Manesar (52mm), Farrukhnagar (32mm), Badshapur (17mm), Sohna (10mm) and Pataudi (5mm).
Commuters were forced to wade through knee-deep water, with a few climbing atop their vehicles as they got stuck on the inundated Narsinghpur service lane of the expressway.
“Traffic came to a standstill due to the waterlogging. I had an office meeting in the morning but got stuck for over 45 minutes near Hero Honda Chowk,” said Pawan Yadav, a resident of Sector 10.
“Usually, it takes me 20 minutes to reach Sector 43, but it took me 40 minutes on Saturday,” Sector 46 resident Tanisha Malhotra said.
The situation in the low-lying areas of sectors 9, 9A, 10 and 10A was no different, with internal lanes of colonies flooded with rainwater.
“The sector was submerged within an hour of heavy rain. MCG is aware of the situation, but instead of permanently eradicating the problem by building a stormwater drain, they are wasting taxpayers’ money on temporary and inadequate arrangements,” said Vinod Arora, the president of Sector 9A RWA.
Earlier, GMDA and NHAI decided to construct a wall near the Narsinghpur service lane as a stop-gap arrangement to prevent water from flowing onto the main carriageway. But the wall is only partially complete, serving no purpose whatsoever.
Meanwhile, GMDA officials said heavy rainfall was witnessed in old Gurgaon, causing waterlogging. “Due to the flooding at Narsinghpur, traffic movement was affected in the morning hours. We have recently started the construction of a wall along the service lane but limited space is available there, which is becoming a major challenge. There was no major waterlogging in the rest of the city as the water receded once it stopped raining,” a senior official said.
Traffic police claimed vehicular movement was slow but there were no snarls. “Due to rain and waterlogging, traffic movement was slow on the expressway in the morning hours, but there was no disruption in traffic flow,” DCP (traffic) Virender Vij said.
According to the IMD, rain activity is likely to remain subdued for the next two days. The city is likely to get more rain on Tuesday. The IMD has issued a ‘yellow’ alert predicting showers, thunderstorms and lightning.
On Saturday, the minimum temperature dropped by nearly four degrees from 28.3 degrees Celsius the previous day to 24.4 degrees. The maximum temperature too saw a dip – it was 34.2 degrees Celsius from Friday’s 35.9 degrees.
(With inputs from Bagish Jha and Tanushka Dutta )
It started raining around 5.30am, and the heavy showers continued for two hours. The IMD observatory in the city recorded 77.5mm rainfall till 5.30pm on Saturday. Several areas, including Narsinghpur, Khandsa, Umang Bharadwaj Chowk, Pataudi Road, Basai Chowk and Rajiv Chowk witnessed severe waterlogging. Traffic movement on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway was badly hit as long tailbacks could be seen till Hero Honda Chowk and its ripple effects felt up to Umang Bharadwaj Chowk.
Data from district administration showed that Kadipur and Harsaru recorded the day’s maximum rainfall at 83mm, followed by Gurgaon (67mm), Wazirabad (54mm), Manesar (52mm), Farrukhnagar (32mm), Badshapur (17mm), Sohna (10mm) and Pataudi (5mm).
Commuters were forced to wade through knee-deep water, with a few climbing atop their vehicles as they got stuck on the inundated Narsinghpur service lane of the expressway.
“Traffic came to a standstill due to the waterlogging. I had an office meeting in the morning but got stuck for over 45 minutes near Hero Honda Chowk,” said Pawan Yadav, a resident of Sector 10.
“Usually, it takes me 20 minutes to reach Sector 43, but it took me 40 minutes on Saturday,” Sector 46 resident Tanisha Malhotra said.
The situation in the low-lying areas of sectors 9, 9A, 10 and 10A was no different, with internal lanes of colonies flooded with rainwater.
“The sector was submerged within an hour of heavy rain. MCG is aware of the situation, but instead of permanently eradicating the problem by building a stormwater drain, they are wasting taxpayers’ money on temporary and inadequate arrangements,” said Vinod Arora, the president of Sector 9A RWA.
Earlier, GMDA and NHAI decided to construct a wall near the Narsinghpur service lane as a stop-gap arrangement to prevent water from flowing onto the main carriageway. But the wall is only partially complete, serving no purpose whatsoever.
Meanwhile, GMDA officials said heavy rainfall was witnessed in old Gurgaon, causing waterlogging. “Due to the flooding at Narsinghpur, traffic movement was affected in the morning hours. We have recently started the construction of a wall along the service lane but limited space is available there, which is becoming a major challenge. There was no major waterlogging in the rest of the city as the water receded once it stopped raining,” a senior official said.
Traffic police claimed vehicular movement was slow but there were no snarls. “Due to rain and waterlogging, traffic movement was slow on the expressway in the morning hours, but there was no disruption in traffic flow,” DCP (traffic) Virender Vij said.
According to the IMD, rain activity is likely to remain subdued for the next two days. The city is likely to get more rain on Tuesday. The IMD has issued a ‘yellow’ alert predicting showers, thunderstorms and lightning.
On Saturday, the minimum temperature dropped by nearly four degrees from 28.3 degrees Celsius the previous day to 24.4 degrees. The maximum temperature too saw a dip – it was 34.2 degrees Celsius from Friday’s 35.9 degrees.
(With inputs from Bagish Jha and Tanushka Dutta )
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