Delhi: Heavy rain causes waterlogging, traffic snarls

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Overnight heavy rains led to waterlogging in many parts of Delhi, affecting traffic movement on Thursday morning.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 23 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The humidity level was 100 per cent at 8.30 am.

Heavy traffic was witnessed at several areas where the vehicles were seen crawling.

The Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative data for the national capital, recorded 77.1 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours up to 8.30 am Thursday.

The Lodhi Road observatory recorded 92.2 mm rainfall, Ridge 18.2 mm, Palam 54.5 mm and Ayanagar 62.4 mm, the IMD said.

According to IMD parameters, 2.5-15.5 mm of rain is considered light rainfall, 15.6 mm-64.4 mm moderate, 64.5-115.5 mm heavy, 115.6-204.4 mm very heavy and over 204.5 mm extremely heavy rainfall.

The IMD has forecast cloudy sky with moderate rain or thundershowers during the day. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 32 degrees Celsius.

In posts on X, police put out information about waterlogged roads and asked commuters to plan their journey accordingly.

Traffic movement is affected on both the carriageways of GTK Road, from Mukarba Chowk towards Azadpur chowk and vice versa, due to waterlogging near the GTK Depot, the Traffic Police said.

It said traffic is affected on both the carriageways of MB Road, from Khanpur towards Shooting Range T-Point and vice-versa, and on the Rohtak Road’s Nangloi to Tikri Border carriageway due to waterlogging.

“Due to waterlogging near GGR/PDR underpass and Ring Road under Dhaula Kuan Flyover, traffic will remain affected on Ring Road, Vande Mataram Marg and NH-48,” the Traffic Police said.

Traffic movement was affected on NH-48 near Mahipalpur, on Aurobindo Marg near PTS and on Josip Broz Tito Marg towards Chirag Delhi.

Due to waterlogging under GGR flyover near APS Colony and breakdown of two buses, traffic will remain affected from NSG light towards Vasant Vihar and Dhaula Kuan, the traffic police stated.

Inderjeet Singh, a central Delhi resident, said he had to return home while on-way to work because of a jam in the Ridge area.

Siddharth Shrivastav, a resident of Ghaziabad, reached the Tis Hazari court around half an hour late for a case as he was stuck in a jam between Welcome Metro Station and Shahstri Park flyover.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) of the national capital was recorded in the “satisfactory” category with a reading of 60 at 9 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.