Over 50 percent of the city submerged in the first onslaught of monsoon as official record shows Delhi has received more rain in two days than it gets in entire July
As Sadar Bazar to Connaught Place to Pragati Maidan to Janakpuri of the national capital remained submerged after the over the weekend rains that started Friday morning, prompting “yellow alert” being issued by the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre for July 10 and beyond, city government minister Atishi who took a boat ride on the Yamuna river on Monday warned the river will breach its banks by Tuesday.
Just around 24 hours of rains were severe enough to cause waterlogging throughout Delhi as the national capital grappled with over 200 complaints of submerged localities and road cave-ins over the weekend. Several buildings also reportedly collapsed.
A meme doing rounds on social media is “socho to jheelo ka sheher ho” meaning city of lakes as was once planned by the AAP administration when it came to power over a decade back; the only difference is waterlogging has turned even the hearth of the capital, the Connaught Place into a water district.
Despite a signed contract with premiere institute of IIT-Delhi in 2011 to masterplan a drainage system, the 2018 plan remains shelved with no head start anywhere. Only two days of monsoon rain has ripped open a year on year similar picture where autos, cars and buses get drowned, roads cave in and people lose lives.
Environmentalist Bahar Dutt in a tweet rued the flawed design of the city infrastructure as most underpasses had to be closed, schools were shut and even courts did not function hundred percent as attendance was not made mandatory given the city’s deluge level.
Added to it the deluge in North India, is threatening flooding in the national capital as barrages in Himachal, Haryana and Punjab could let out water to reduce pressure.
According to data from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi witnessed more than 153 mm of rain between 8:30 pm on Saturday and 8:30 am on Sunday, the highest rainfall in 24 hours since July 25, 1982, when the capital recorded 169.9 mm of rains last.
As per the IMD data, the capital saw 107.3 mm of rain, taking the total across 290 mm which is way above the normal of 209.77 mm for the entire July in the capital.
In the NCR, while Noida in Uttar Pradesh saw a smooth ride with next to no water logging, heavy rains in Haryana’s Gurgaon of 150+ mm in 24 hours turned in into a mini Venice.
PWD Minister Atishi got down in knee-deep water and the took rides in boats on Yamuna in her flashy life jackets. Chief Minister addressed the press and denied any flood-like situation and slammed the opposition for hinting at politics over the city’s failed drainage.
Kejriwal’s government which won the civic polls last year is answerable for the preparation of the city’s dtormwater drains ahead of the monsoon.
Around 1 pm, IMD Scientist Soma Sen Roy was quoted by the media saying, “We are expecting up to 12cm of rain in Delhi, it could increase, we are monitoring. Yellow alert has been issued for Delhi today. We are expecting rains to reduce a bit over North-West Himalayan region from Tuesday.”
The monsoon mayhem in North India prompted even Prime Minister Narendra Modi to takes stock of the situation as Himachal, Punjab showed horrifying scenes of vehicles washed away by flooding water amid cloud bursts and rain.
