By IANS,
New Delhi: Heavy rains lashed Delhi Saturday, causing chaos on city roads. The hour-long downpour in some parts of the city brought traffic to a halt and flooded roads.
While the rainfall recorded in the capital till 5.30 p.m. was 24.6 mm, the Met office has forecast more rains ahead.
The rains brought the maximum temperature down by five notches from the season’s average to 29.0 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature was 25.5 degrees Celsius, a notch below the average for the season. The humidity stood at 98 percent.
The skies remained overcast throughout Saturday.
Similar weather conditions are expected Sunday with the maximum and minimum temperatures hovering around 30 and 25 degrees Celsius respectively, the Met Office said.
“Sky would remain generally cloudy. One or two heavy spells of rainfall are likely Sunday. There would be no change in the weather conditions for the next two days. There will be intermittent rains and thunder showers,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.
Flooded roads and stalled traffic signals added to the woes of commuters.
“We were continuously receiving calls regarding traffic jams from various parts of the city, particularly from Vasant Vihar, Moolchand, Ashram Chowk, Moti Bagh and parts of north Delhi,” a Delhi traffic helpline official said.
Traffic snarls were reported throughout Saturday at Dhaula Kuan, Mehrauli, Modi Mills and Nehru Place in south Delhi, Shakti Nagar and Rohini in north Delhi and Mayur Vihar Phase-III in east Delhi.
Other areas where traffic moved at slow pace included Raja Garden flyover in west Delhi, Inter-State Bus terminus at Kashmere Gate in central Delhi, and Vikas Marg near ITO in New Delhi area.
Office-goers struggled through heavy traffic in the morning.
“The roads were flooded after the downpour and caused traffic chaos. It took me more than an hour to reach my office at ITO from Mehrauli,” said Ashvinee Kumar.
As traffic went haywire, some commuters parked their vehicles at nearby Metro stations and took the Metro ride to their destinations.
“Keeping in mind Friday’s rainfall, I preferred to take Metro today to go to office,” said Naveed Shrivastava, a resident of Punjabi Bagh.
According to the civic agency, complaints of traffic jams were received from Green Park, Malaviya Nagar, Katwaria Sarai, Paharganj and Rohini areas.
The monsoon is expected to last in Delhi till Sept 20.
The Yamuna river has not crossed the danger mark so far, officials of the flood and irrigation department said. However, the river is flowing a little above its normal mark of 203.52 metres.
“Yamuna has not crossed the danger mark so far. If heavy downpour continues, it may touch the danger mark by Sunday. But as of now there is no threat… We are monitoring the water level on a regular basis,” an official told IANS.
Officials said around 47,308 cusecs of water was released from Haryana at the Hathnikund barrage and had reached Delhi.