Delhi weather: Parts of city remain waterlogged, 5 killed in rain-related incidents
New Delhi, August 1
Several parts of Delhi remained waterlogged on Thursday, a day after heavy showers unleashed chaos in the city, officials said, adding that five people had 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 are 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 civil services 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 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, the 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 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 electric current.
