Downpour drowns Delhi: Vehicles crawl on waterlogged roads; wettest Aug in 15 years

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Heavy rains drenched Delhi on Friday, bringing traffic to a standstill on key routes, triggering a wall collapse that injured three children, and sparking a political blame game over the city's waterlogging issue.

According to official data, the national capital has recorded its wettest August in the past 15 years, with 399.8 mm of rainfall reported so far.

This makes it the rainiest August since 2010, when the city received 455.8 mm of rainfall, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The heavy rains led to a political slugfest in the national capital, with the opposition slamming the BJP-led Delhi government over civic issue and saying it was due to their "gross neglect" that the capital was being inundated.

Former Delhi chief minister Atishi shared a video showing a man swimming through a flooded road in Patparganj, alleging that BJP's four-engine government had submerged the national capital.

Amid downpour in east Delhi's Mandawali, three schoolchildren -- Pankaj (8), Dhruv (10) and Aadi (8) -- returning home had a narrow escape when the wall of an abandoned house collapsed and they suffered minor injuries.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) received two complaints of waterlogging and four complaints of fallen trees. The Public Works Department's control room received around eight complaints of waterlogging.

According to officials, these were in areas like Libaspur, Roop Nagar, Saket main road, Sarai Kale Khan T-junction, and near ITO at Tilak Bridge, where a portion of the road was damaged due to rainfall and the spot was barricaded by Delhi Traffic Police, leading to slow movement of traffic.

Commuters in the national capital faced heavy traffic jams on several major stretches on Friday morning after rain.

Traffic was affected on the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flyway, Mathura Road, Vikas Marg, ITO, ISBT, Geeta Colony, Sarai Kale Khan, Pragati Maidan, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Akshardham, Rohtak Road, Peeragarhi Road, Delhi-Jaipur Highway, Madhuban Chowk, MB Road, MG Road, Dhaula Kuan and Rajaram Kohli Marg, an official of the Delhi Traffic Police said.

Vehicles moved at a snail's pace from Badarpur to Ashram, causing major inconvenience to office-goers and school buses.

"What's with the snail-paced traffic on NH8 to Delhi? Even ambulances are struggling to move an inch further," a commuter said on social media.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lashed out at the Delhi government over waterlogging across the national capital following morning showers, accusing it of corruption in de-silting.

AAP’s Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj shared a video from Patparganj on X and alleged that the government had stopped even "making false claims." "They think the rainy season will end and the trouble will be averted. Delhi residents fear this BJP government will push the city back in every sector," he said.

Bharadwaj also questioned the chief minister over de-silting and audit reports.

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said that Delhiites have been bearing terrible discomforts on account of rains, just like during the regime of the previous AAP government, as the BJP too made only lofty promises without addressing the mess in the city left behind by the corrupt Kejriwal government.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that after many years, the capital has experienced a long monsoon. Starting unusually early around June 20, the monsoon has continued till the end of August, yet public life has not come to a halt even for a single day.

Sachdeva said that while Delhi residents did face some waterlogging, the alertness of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ensured that all concerned agencies -- including the Jal Board, Public Works Department, DDA and NDMC -- acted promptly by installing pumps and deploying staff for quick drainage.

In its latest nowcast, the IMD said that light to moderate rainfall accompanied by a thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds at 30-40 kmph is likely at several places in Delhi-the NCR in the coming hours.PTI NSM SSM SSJ SLB BUN NB