At least four people, including a three-year-old girl, died when heavy rains lashed the Delhi National Capital Territory on Thursday, submerging several areas, inconveniencing pedestrians and leading to massive traffic jams on roads.
A seven-year-old boy allegedly drowned in a waterlogged plot of land in Sanjay Colony in Samaipur Badli area, northwest Delhi. Police said they were still investigating the details of the death, including ownership of the plot of land. According to an officer familiar with the details, the boy, a third-grade student, went to the plot of land near his house with his five-year-old brother early in the morning to relieve himself.
“My two sons left the house around 8.30 am to relieve themselves in the open area. The seven-year-old was sitting on the wall when he slipped and fell into the vacant plot that was flooded with rainwater. It was an accident,” Tamanna, his mother, told reporters.
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3 dead in Ghaziabad
The other three deaths were reported in Ghaziabad.
In Sarvodaya Nagar, the body of the three-year-old girl was found face down in the water, and it is suspected that she slipped and drowned in rainwater that had accumulated in the area, police said. In Indirapuram, a 24-year-old guard, Bablu Kumar, allegedly died after being electrocuted while crossing a park near the private office where he worked.
The body of a man was also recovered from a drain adjacent to the Delhi-Saharanpur road after he fell. It is suspected that he did not see the drainage on the road, which was severely flooded. His identity has not yet been determined.
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Low pressure causes rain in Delhi
It rained almost continuously in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) from late Wednesday night until mid-afternoon on Thursday. Experts said that the heavy rains were caused by a low pressure area reaching Delhi. “The cyclone traveled from the Bay of Bengal into western Uttar Pradesh during the early morning hours, bringing rain,” amateur meteorologist Navdeep Dahiya said.
Residents have questioned the preparedness of the monsoon across the region as it has caused widespread waterlogging, uprooted trees and caused drains to overflow.
Reviewing the situation from the 24X7 Monsoon Control Room, Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Verma asserted that months of soil removal, deployment of pumps and round-the-clock monitoring have ensured smooth traffic movement at critical locations and hotspots like Minto Bridge, Zakhera Tunnel, Dhaula Kuan, Moolchand and Pul Prahladpur Bridge despite rainfall of over 100 mm in several parts of the city.
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However, low-lying areas and markets saw knee-deep water. Complaints poured in from Sadar Bazar, Gandhi Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Patparganj, Seelampur, Kirari, Sangam Vihar, Badarpur, Civil Lines and Khajuri Khas, among other areas. Ghazipur on NH-9 also witnessed prolonged traffic congestion after the roads were submerged.
