Delhi Rains: A 22-year-old woman and her child drowned in a waterlogged drain while two people sustained injuries in separate incidents after heavy rain wreaked havoc in the national capital on Wednesday evening, news agency PTI reported, citing officials.
The deceased were identified as Tanuja and her three-year-old son Priyansh. The two had gone to a weekly market near Khoda Colony in the Ghazipur area. They slipped and fell into the waterlogged under-construction drain around 8 pm, a police officer said. They were brought out with the help of divers and cranes and taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, where doctors declared them dead, the officer further stated.
Following heavy downpour in the city on Wednesday evening, the Delhi government has ordered the closure of all private and government schools on Thursday. Large parts of the city were inundated after heavy downpours unleashed chaos, causing traffic snarls and waterlogging.
In its latest bulletin, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted moderate rainfall in the city, which would be accompanied by thunderstorms for the next two days. The weather office has also said that the sky will remain cloudy throughout the week. The temperature is set to hover around 34 degrees Celsius.
The torrential downpour prompted the IMD to include Delhi in its list of “areas of concern” in the National Flash Flood Guidance Bulletin. The department advised people to remain indoors, secure windows and doors, and refrain from unnecessary travel. At least 10 flights that were to land at the Delhi airport were diverted on Wednesday evening. An official said that at least 10 flights were diverted at the airport after 1930 hours due to bad weather.
Top Points
- Delhi Education Minister Atishi announced late night that all schools in the city will remain closed on Thursday. “In light of the very heavy rainfall this evening and the forecast of heavy rainfall tomorrow, all schools both government and private will remain closed on August 1st,” she posted on ‘X’.
- The heavy downpour also led to a house collapse in north Delhi’s Sabji Mandi area near Robin Cinema, injuring one person. In another incident in southwest Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, a woman was injured in a wall collapse.
- The inclement weather also hit air traffic. At least 10 flights scheduled to land at the Delhi airport were diverted — eight to Jaipur and two to Lucknow — due to inclement weather conditions. Airlines also warned of the possibility of more flight disruptions.
- According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city’s primary weather station Safdarjung recorded 79.2 mm of rainfall between 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm; Mayur Vihar 119 mm; Delhi University 77.5 mm; Pusa 66.5 mm; and the Palam observatory 43.7 mm.
- Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena said he has asked officers to remain on alert. “Apart from ensuring minimum inconvenience to people in general, they are advised to specifically address issues at sites prone to waterlogging, including coaching centres,” he said in the post on ‘X’.
- The traffic situation was especially chaotic on roads in Lutyens’ Delhi and those leading to Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad.
- Old Rajinder Nagar, where students were protesting the death of three UPSC aspirants due to flooding in a coaching institute basement, was under knee-deep water. As far as In Connaught Place is concerned, water gushed into many showrooms and restaurants.
- Widespread waterlogging prompted the traffic police to issue an advisory, asking commuters to avoid certain roads. The traffic police also suggested alternative routes and highlighted diversions imposed for commuters to consider given the waterlogging.
- Multiple areas, including in Kashmere Gate, Karol Bagh and Pragati Maidan, were marooned following the heavy downpour. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi said it received four complaints about waterlogging and three calls about fallen trees from different parts of Delhi. Power cuts were also reported across the city.
- In Old Delhi’s Daryaganj area, the boundary wall of a school collapsed upon cars parked outside while the road beneath caved in, as reported by PTI. In South Delhi’s Chhatarpur area, slippers were seen floating on waterlogged streets as vehicles drove by.
