‘Who needs Disneyland?’: Rain cripples ‘millennium city’; residents lament condition of civic infra

A spell of rain turned Gurugram streets into canals, crippling the ‘millennium city’. Videos on social media showed the pathetic conditions of Gurugram roads, inundated to the knees. Who needs Disneyland when streets turn into water rides, asked a social media user, while another lamented the condition of civic infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the District Administration Gurugram has asked all corporate offices and private institutions to allow Work From Home on July 10 to prevent traffic congestion. Schools and colleges have also been asked to conduct online classes.

Heavy rains lashed parts of Delhi-NCR on Wednesday, bridging the temperatures down, and prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue an orange alert. Multiple parts of Gurugram were flooded, leading to traffic snarls and breakdown of vehicles. Many people shared on social media that they were stuck on the roads for hours.

“Just a few hours of rains and people had to abandon cars, sleep at friends' places and miss work, home, meetings, flights etc. Except for some posh areas in Gurgaon, the traffic and infrastructure is a mess,” said a user, while another stated: “Height of nuisance in India. The 30 mins of rain and this is the level of water logging as if drains don't exist at all.”

“This is Gurgaon. But this could be any major city of India. Brief spells of intense rain and the city falls apart. The one place we need revolutionary reforms is: Municipal Governance. And need it now,” said yet another user.

The Gurugram Municipal Corporation deployed teams on the ground as complaints poured in. “Required machinery is operational to ensure discharge of storm water. Drains are running at full capacity due to high rainfall,” it said.

The Wednesday rains brought the maximum temperature to 35.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below the average, while the minimum temperature was at 26.4 degrees Celsius, 1.5 notch below the normal.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Thursday as well, forecasting moderate to heavy rainfall across the capital. The department has also warned of cloudy skies and gusty winds ranging from 30 to 40 kmph. Occasional lightning is expected during this period. Wind speeds could reach up to 50 kmph during heavier spells of rain.