Heavy rain, hail lash city, rush hour traffic affected

New Delhi: Heavy rains and hail lashed many parts of the city on Tuesday leading to waterlogging and throwing traffic out of gear at major intersections in the national capital. After the overnight rainfall, heavy overcast conditions in the morning plunged the city into pitch darkness, before the heavens opened up again, causing inconvenience to commuters, office goers, and local residents.

Fifteen trains were running late with an average delay of two to three hours. These included Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express, Malda-Delhi Junction Farakka Express, and Mumbai-Amritsar Express. The Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express was late by six hours, according to the Northern Railways. The rains also affected street traffic in Delhi as many important intersections faced waterlogging. Delhi traffic police officials said traffic was affected from Nigambodh Ghat towards Hanuman Mandir near Kashmere Gate in North Delhi and also from SS Marg towards Bhati Mines in South Delhi due to waterlogging.

Obstruction in traffic from JLN Marg towards Kamla Market roundabout due to waterlogging and breakdown of two cluster buses was also reported.

According to information provided by Delhi traffic police on its official Twitter handle, movement of traffic was disrupted at Karala Chowk, Malviya Nagar, Modi Mill flyover, and Azad Market underpass in the morning. Vehicles moved bumper-to-bumper on Narayana flyover and Defence Colony underpass (from Jangpura towards Lajpat Nagar) due to waterlogging. According to a meteorological (MeT) department official, the Safdarjung observatory recorded 14.8 mm rainfall, Palam 22.8 mm rainfall, Lodhi Road 15 mm, and Aya Nagar recorded 26.1 mm rainfall. “The minimum temperature was recorded at 12.5° Celsius, five notches above the normal,” the official said.

While unusual darkness and subsequent hail with rain in the morning caused unease among several people, many were amused and even took to Twitter to post pictures, with humour-laden words.

“When 9AM is like this, it means its time to bunk officechool #DelhiRains,” tweeted a user, Shashank Thakur, and shared a picture of a neighbourhood immersed in darkness.