New Delhi:
Delhiites crawled to their destinations as the capital got waterlogged in incessant rains with police diverting vehicles on busy roads and closing a key bridge for traffic after water level in the Yamuna River rose dangerously.
The drainage system across the city failed miserably as water entered many facilities like Inter-State Bus Depot in Kashmiri Gate, DTC Depot at Indraprastha and even accumulated in front of some Commonwealth Games venues.
There were also reports of road cave-ins from some parts of the city besides those of waterlogging, building collapses and vehicle breakdowns, a senior police official said.
The central control room of MCD received 117 complaints of waterlogging, five complaints of falling of trees or tree parts and six complaints of falling of building portions.
Serpentine queues of vehicles were the order of the day in many roads like the Vikas Marg, Gazipur-Nizamuddin Road, Ring Road, Mathura Road, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, DND flyover and Delhi-Gurgaon Road.
The misery was compounded for commuters on Gazipur- Nizamuddin Road after police restricted movement of vehicles by putting trucks across the road at the entry point of Ring Road, which was waterlogged. Same was the case with those coming through Raj Ghat to IP Estate.
"It was a horrible day for me. It took three hours for me to reach ITO from Ghazipur through Nizamuddin bridge. Vehicles were not moving and police put two trucks on the road to block entry into Ring Road," said Mahesh Kulkarni, an advertisement professional.
Another area where commuters faced immense problem was the Old Yamuna Bridge, which was closed for road and rail traffic after the water level in Yamuna River rose dangerously. The bridge connects north-east Delhi with central parts of the capital.
"The Old Yamuna Iron Bridge has been closed as water level went above the danger mark at around noon," a senior police official said. The water level in Yamuna had touched 205.92 metres, 1.09 metres up from the danger level of 204.83 metres.
The road and rail movement was closed following the rise in water level as well as waterlogging, leading to choc-a-bloc traffic on arterial roads.
Railways stopped train services on the Old Yamuna Bridge and are diverting all the trains bound for Old Delhi Railway Station and towards the eastern part of the country through other routes, a railway official said.
The rain gauges measured 9.3 mm for a period of 24 hours ending 8:30 am while it was 0.6 mm during the day till 5:30 pm. The Met has predicted similar weather conditions with rains and temperature between 25 and 33 degree Celsius.
The minimum and maximum was recorded at 25.3 and 31.7 degree Celsius respectively while the humidity was between 73 and 95 per cent.
Vehicular movement was also slow in areas like Connaught Place and AIIMS, South Extension, Nizamuddin, Saket, Safdurjung and Kalkaji.
Traffic movement was also slow at Mathura Road-Purana Quila Road, Pusa Road, Ajmeri Bazar-Chawri Bazar, New Rohtak Road near Anand Parbat among other localities.
Traffic movement was slow due to waterlogging at points like Ring Road IP flyover, Qutub Metro Station towards Gurgaon, Minto road underpass, Dwarka underpass and Humauan Road-Pandara Road.
According to MCD, among the main points of waterlogging were Dwarka, Rajorkri, Nangloi, Mundka, Pitam Pura, Shakti Nagar, Jahangirpuri Main Road, Okhla, Sarita Vihar flyover, Minto Bridge, Chawri Bazar, Netaji Subhash Marg, Vasant Vihar, Pusa Road, Rampura to Moti Nagar, Pashim Puri and Jhandewalan.
Delhi government has closed the sluice gates of 17 nullahs falling in Yamuna to prevent rising water from coming into the city but civic authorities assured that this will not lead to overflowing of drains.
MCD Commissioner K S Mehra said the closing of gates was a routine exercise undertaken by the Flood Control Department of the government to ensure that water from Yamuna does not flow into the city and cause a deluge.
"However, at all the 17 points, pumps have been installed and excess water from the drains are being pumped into the river itself. So there is no fear of overflowing of drains within the city," he said.