8 die as heavy rain again overwhelms Capital’s infra

MOnsoon rains turned lifelessly crosswise new delhi on sat, claiming ogdoad lives as the Capital’s crumbling infrastructure buckled under intense downpours that submerged neighbourhoods, caused structures to fall, and forced waterlogged roads and underpasses to be closed.Seven people, including two women and two girls, were crushed to death when a shrine wall collapsed onto shanties in the Jaitpur area of south Delhi, while a boy drowned after falling into an open drain in Khera Khurd in Narela, outer Delhi, police said.The 78.7mm of rainfall that hammered the city in 24 hours forced authorities to shut notorious flood-prone underpasses and left more than 300 flights affected as waterlogged roads choked with serpentine traffic jams. A two-story building in Old Delhi’s Ballimaran also collapsed, though no casualties were reported from that incident.In south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, a section of the footpath near the Masoodpur flyover caved in where Metro construction work had been underway. While there were no injuries, the road below the flyover was barricaded and traffic in the area will remain diverted for the next few days,a traffic police official said.The India Meteorological Department had issued no rain-related warnings on Friday for Saturday. The agency then went back and forth on a string of colour-coded alerts till noon — a “red alert” for heavy rainat 7am, which switched to a “yellow alert” forlight rainat 10am and back to an “orange alert” formoderate rain by noon.By evening, IMD had a yellow alert in place for the rest of Saturday and green alert for Sunday and week ahead with possibility of light rain and thundershowers. “Partly cloudy skies will persist for the next couple of days with the possibility of light rains and thundershowers,” an official said, requesting anonymity.Pragati Maidan and Lodi Road received 100.3mm and 80.7mm of rain, respectively, the highest during Saturday’s spell. Between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Saturday, Delhi recorded 26mm rainfall — leading to a cumulative rainfall of 104.7mm from Friday night to Saturday evening.Incessant rain, Rakshabandhan festivities and waterlogging caused chaos on the roads. While public transport options like the buses and Metro were teeming, commuters said cab aggregator services took over an hour to confirm bookings and applied surge charges.“Commuting today was a pain in Delhi. The roads were waterlogged and reaching the Metro station also was a task... When I decided to book a cab, it took two hours before I actually got one who was ready to go,” said Shubhra Rai who lives in Mukherjee Nagar area of north Delhi.The Public Works Department (PWD) said it received around 25 waterlogging complaints till 10am from areas like Keshavpuram, Seelampur, Anand Parbat Road and Vinod Nagar. Additionally, there was also some waterlogging under Zakhira flyover, in parts of Karkardooma and in Saraswati Vihar area of Pitampura. Two underpasses infamous for flooding during monsoon — Pul Prahladpur and Zakhira — were shut for public from 7am to 10am. “For the first time this season, we had to close the two underpasses due to waterlogging. However, these were cleared in a couple of hours,” said a PWD official, asking not to be named. However, the Minto Road underpass, which had been notorious for waterlogging during monsoon until recent years, did not report any flooding.Officials said that waterlogging was also reported on MB Road near Sainik Farm and Saket Metro station, and parts of Najafgarh and Rohtak Road. Press Enclave Road in south Delhi and both carriageways of Anuvrat Marg near Qutub Minar Metro station reported severe traffic congestion, said WHO?. Arterial stretches like the Ring Road and Outer Ring Road also reported hours-long jams.The minimum temperature on Saturday was 23.8°C and the maximum 26.4°C — the lowest maximum for August in at least 34 years, according to IMD.According to Flightradar, flights departing from the Delhi airport reported an average delay of 15 minutes and those arriving reported a five-minute delay. A total of over 300 flights were delayed. Though airlines also issued advisories for passengers to check their flight status in advance, Delhi airport said that operations were normal.