Delhi is so NOT monsoon ready

Heavy rain lashed national capital New Delhi on Saturday, causing massive traffic jams due to waterlogging as vehicles had to negotiate flooded streets which exposed the civic bodies' lack of preparedness.

Waterlogging was reported in several low-lying areas of the city while in some parts, rainwater flooded the basements of flats.

Within an hour of the showers, there was chaos on almost all arterial roads as traffic signals did not function properly and choked drains flooded the streets.

Trees in some parts of the city were uprooted in the heavy rainfall, causing disruption in power supply in some areas.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic was witnessed at major intersections such as ITO, Laxmi Nagar, Moti Bagh, Kashmere Gate, Munirka, Dwarka and Dhaula Kuan.

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"There are reports of traffic jams from various areas in the city, we are collecting the data. Traffic jams have been observed due to water-logging in areas like South Delhi, South Extension and New Delhi," said DCP (Traffic) Bharti Arora.

Commuters had a hard time navigating the roads in most parts of the city as visibility also dropped a bit.

Pedestrians were seen wading through streets flooded by rain water and overflowing drains.

"It took me 40 minutes to reach the Akshardham metro station from my home, a distance which I cover within five minutes every day. Traffic was moving very slow," said Ridhi Chouhan, who works at a private bank in Noida. 

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People were stuck at metro stations and bus stops waiting for the showers to subside while autorickshaw and taxi drivers had a field day charging hefty sums from those in a hurry to reach office.

"I had to shell out Rs 180 (for an auto) from my home in Munirka to my office at Connaught Place today. On normal days, the fare is not more than Rs 100," said Ashok Ojha, who works at a telecom company.

The weather office, too, said they were collecting data about the rainfall. 

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Heavy rains flooded the forecourt of the arrival area of the Indira Gandhi International airport, causing inconvenience to the passengers coming out of Terminal 3.

There were no disruptions in other airport operations, as there was water logging only at the arrival area of the airport, officials said.

Flight operations at the airport largely remained unaffected.

However, a Malaysian Airline flight arriving in Delhi from Kuala Lumpur was diverted to Ahmedabad due to heavy rains. As the rains reduced visibility at the runway, four flights arriving in Delhi were asked to take a go-around.

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A spokesperson from Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates and manages the airport, said that despite heavy rains at the airport, all passengers facilities remain completely unaffected including the baggage belts.

"All flight operations are fully normal at the moment except one flight which was diverted and four flights had to go around for a few minutes," he said.

Rains also hit operations of Delhi Metro. Malviya Nagar metro station was closed for around 15-20 minutes after rain water reached till concourse level.

"Malviya nagar metro station was closed for around 15-20 minutes, between 2 and 2.30 PM," a Delhi metro spokesperson said, adding services in other section remained normal.