Several parts of Delhi remained waterlogged on Thursday, a day after heavy showers unleashed chaos in the city, officials said, adding that five people have died in separate rain-related incidents so far. Six weather stations across Delhi recorded over 100 mm of rain in a single day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday, categorising it as an "extremely intense spell".
According to the IMD, the city's primary weather station, Safdarjung, recorded 107 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours. Other stations, which also received significant rainfall, included Mayur Vihar (147 mm), Najafgarh and Ridge (113 mm), Lodi Road (106 mm) and Delhi University (104 mm), it said.
Rajinder Nagar area, which has become the epicentre of protest following the death of three UPSC aspirants in a flooded basement of a coaching centre, was heavily waterlogged on Wednesday, with MCD officials toiling till early hours to pump out the water. Students continued to protest despite the adverse weather conditions demanding accountability from authorities.
Till midnight, the Delhi Police received 26 calls of building collapse and one more such incident was reported till 7 am on Thursday, data showed. One person was killed in north Delhi's Subzi Mandi area and three more were injured -- two in Shastri Park and one in Defence Colony. Data showed that 2,727 calls related to traffic jams and 119 calls of waterlogging were received till midnight.
There were another 218 calls of traffic jams and eight of waterlogging till 7 am, it showed. Fifty calls for uprooted trees were also received by police during this duration. Roads in several areas, including ITO, Rajghat, Mother Dairy, Ganesh Nagar and Patparganj Road, remained waterlogged on Thursday morning.
On Wednesday, a 22-year-old woman and her three-year-old son drowned in east Delhi's Ghazipur after they slipped into a drain due to waterlogging. The incident occurred near the Khoda Colony area, where the roadside drain was under construction. The AAP attacked Delhi Lt Governor, who is the chairman of DDA, over the incident.
Alleging that the DDA was responsible for the drain, the party said it was not an "accident" but "murder" and demanded action against officials. In a series of posts on X, BJP trained guns on the AAP over inundated streets and demanded the resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In two separate incidents, a 12-year-old boy and a 26-year-old man were electrocuted in southwest and southeast Delhi on Wednesday.
The 12-year-old was electrocuted while returning from tuition in the Bindapur area. He was electrocuted after coming in contact with an open electric cable near his house. The 26-year-old man had gone to his terrace where he died due to an electric current.
Delhi Education Minister Atishi announced late Wednesday night that all schools in the city will remain closed on Thursday. The IMD said the maximum temperature is likely to settle around 33 degrees Celsius. It has predicted generally cloudy sky, and light to moderate rain thundershowers during the day. The humidity was 97 per cent at 8.30 am. The Institute of Town Planners India, located on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, near ITO, was inundated due to the heavy rainfall with the work of pumping out of water being carried on even till this morning.
Delhi PWD officials said they received 90 calls regarding waterlogging till 6 am on Thursday. There were 20 calls for clearing uprooted trees. In a post on X, the Delhi Traffic Police has asked commuters to avoid the Mundka as there is heavy waterlogging in the area.
"Traffic is affected on Rohtak Road in the carriageway from Nangloi towards Tikri Border and vice-versa due to heavy waterlogging and potholes on the road in Mundka. Kindly avoid Mundka and take an alternate route accordingly," it said.
"Traffic is affected on Road No. 201 in the carriageway from Rajapuri Crossing towards Sector-1, Dwarka crossing due to the uprooting of a tree on the main road near Rajapuri. Commuters are advised to avoid the stretch and plan their journey accordingly," the traffic police said in another post.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) of the national capital was recorded in the "satisfactory" category with a reading of 63 at 10 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".