Delhi-NCR rains: Roads turn into rivers, traffic collapses after 12-hour downpour

Delhi-NCR was battered by relentless rain on Friday, leaving several parts of the region looking like rivers, with roads submerged under up to four feet of water, vehicles stranded and residents trapped as the monsoon fury continued for the third straight day.

More than 12 hours of heavy rain brought traffic to a crawl across the capital. From Mehrauli-Badarpur Road and Mahipalpur to ITO, Shakarpur and Chhatarpur, commuters were stuck for hours. Some motorists abandoned their vehicles on flooded roads, while office-goers struggled to find cabs and residents returned to waterlogged homes.

The scale of the downpour was reflected in rainfall figures from Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station. It recorded 127 mm of rain till 8.30 am on Friday, followed by another 77.1 mm through the day. The August total reached 204.1 mm by 8.30 pm — around 90% of the normal rainfall for the entire month.

Delhi is now set to record its wettest first eight days of August since 2011.

Authorities received around 90 complaints involving waterlogging, fallen trees, wall collapses and power outages. In neighbouring Gurugram, two people were killed in a building collapse.

Delhi roads become rivers

MB Road was among the worst-hit stretches. Water entered Safdarjung Hospital, while the entrance to the Greater Kailash metro station was flooded. Kapashera near IGI Airport resembled a river, while Greater Kailash 2, Jahapanah urban forest, Okhla, Sadar Bazaar, Mahipalpur and Saket also reported severe waterlogging.

In Chhatarpur, school students were seen wading through knee-deep water. In Sangam Vihar, residents pushed vehicles through waist-deep water as two-wheelers remained stranded.

“The city gets flooded every year. This is due to poor sewage and drainage infrastructure,” BK Dutt, 62, a Burari resident, was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Traffic crawled for kilometres between Khanpur and Okhla Mor, while Sangam Vihar, Deoli and Ambedkar Nagar remained inundated. In Fatehpur Beri’s Valmiki Basti, schoolchildren were carried across flooded lanes on a large blue plastic sheet being used as a makeshift raft.

Rameshwari Devi, 39, said, “Even ambulances were stuck. What usually takes me an hour to get to work took me at least three today. When I returned home, I realised my lane and my house were flooded.”

Gurugram, Noida also flooded

Gurugram faced its third consecutive day of major flooding, disrupting arterial roads and public facilities as agencies deployed pumps. The IMD said the city received 172 mm of rain over 72 hours till Friday, including 60 mm till 5.30 pm.

Parts of Noida and Greater Noida also saw flooded roads, submerged underpasses and severe traffic snarls. Noida recorded 39 mm of rain in the 24 hours till 8.30 am Friday.

Pushp Vihar recorded 147.5 mm of rain between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm, followed by Chhatarpur at 131 mm, Palam at 88.7 mm and Ayanagar at 87.4 mm.

The IMD attributed the widespread rainfall to an active monsoon trough. Rainfall activity over Delhi is expected to decline from Saturday, with light rain likely over the following two days.

Residents blame drainage, authorities defend preparations

Residents blamed clogged drains, poor road design and years of inaction. Anantmala Potdar, Saket D61 to D125 RWA president, said, “Despite everyone being aware that waterlogging is an annual problem, our complaints over multiple years have fallen on deaf ears. Today again it has been a very big problem, with multiple main and arterial roads waterlogged. Additionally, due to the rain, multiple trees got uprooted and fell during the day.”

Ashok Singh of Sunlight Colony said water had entered his car and house, while power cuts worsened the situation.

Public works department minister Parvesh Verma, however, said waterlogging at major hotspots had been resolved and that inundation was mainly reported in villages and rural areas where drainage projects were still underway.

“The rain is the same, but the preparation has changed, and that’s why, today, monsoon in Delhi no longer means waterlogging, but is becoming synonymous with better management,” he posted on X.