Heavy rains, monster jam in Gurgaon paralyses city for the second day

After heavy rain flooded New Delhi on Thursday evening, commuters on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway were stuck in a traffic jam for hours. The situation on Friday morning did not improve either. It has been drizzling in Gurugram since Saturday morning, but there are no reports of traffic jams yet. Police personnel have been deployed at all major intersections to man traffic. The met department has predicted lighter rain over the weekend but expects intense showers again on Tuesday, NDTV report said.  

The police has said that the traffic situation in the city would not improve before noon, IANS reported. Adding to that, the Gurugram police said, “People coming to Gurugram from Delhi are advised to stay back today to avoid being stuck in traffic jams due to flooding on roads."

Prohibitory orders were imposed near Hero Honda Chowk in Gurgaon, dubbed as ‘Millenium City’, in a bid to ease the congestion caused by massive traffic jams, even as political parties were locked in a slug fest over the situation.

Long tailbacks were witnessed in gridlocked roads in Gurgaon for the second day on Saturday due to severe waterlogging on National Highway-8 after heavy rains lashed Delhi’s satellite city leaving thousands of commuters stranded and forcing authorities to clamp prohibitory orders.

Schools were also ordered to be shut down in Gurgaon. Many motorists abandoned their vehicles and waded through knee-deep water which accumulated on both the carriageways of Delhi-Jaipur road, including Hero Honda Chowk, bringing traffic to a standstill with the tailback extending up to 15-20 km.

Thousands of office goers and other commuters were stranded in Gurgaon as heavy rains led to waterlogging on National Highway-8 causing massive traffic jams, forcing authorities to shut down schools in Delhi’s satellite city while some offices too declared it an off. Potholes and open manholes added to the woes of people.

Haryana Chief Secretary D S Dhesi said the situation aggravated last evening due to unexpected 46 mm rainfall recorded within three hours as against 190 mm rainfall recorded between 1 June and 27 July in Gurgaon. The situation in Gurgaon was reported to have slightly eased in the evening.

The traffic snarl on roads leading to Gurgaon following heavy rains last evening continued with Delhi Traffic Police warning commuters to avoid NH-8 this morning.

Different roads leading to Gurgaon including NH-8 and Sohna Road were congested in the morning. The movement of vehicles was very slow due to rains and waterlogging.

Meanwhile, commuters took to social media to vent out their frustration. Here are some tweets:

Customer: "One regular thin crust vegetable pizza"
Dominos: May I know your address?
Customer~224th car on exit 8, Delhi #Gurgaon road

— Lolmaal X (@MrAMITKHANNA) July 30, 2016

24. Dear @mlkhattar sir, why dont u please asked Gurgaon DTCP to give you a report on the Completion Certificate issued in last 20 yrs

— Alok Bhatt (@alok_bhatt) July 30, 2016

I think there were no traffic jams in Gurgaon.This is a lie spread by vested interests.

All traffic jams were in a place called Gurugram.

— Samir Arora (@Iamsamirarora) July 30, 2016

Sir what should we do when Delhi CM closes the gates of Nazafgarh drain to choke Gurgaon drains for politics? https://t.co/o3oixL2IrF

— Ankur Agarwal (@ankur0906) July 30, 2016

Nightmarish! Hundreds stuck in #gurgaontraffic y'day due to waterlogging - see the images! https://t.co/yBdgqK6Sqb pic.twitter.com/y2usSAYdeL

— Swapna Raghu Sanand (@Svara) July 29, 2016

@mlkhattar we can constitute a team and helpline to save cows. How about the humans stuck here in Gurugram. #gurgaonrains #gurgaontraffic

— Shubhra pant (@pant_shubhra) July 29, 2016

The stress of travelers, and emergency vehicles being stuck for 5 hrs is not funny. #gurgaontraffic

— Shruti Bhutani (@DefineYellow) July 29, 2016

We are swimming to the radio station. Are you stuck too? #gurgaonrains #gurgaontraffic #DelhiRains RT pic.twitter.com/DLHGLmGTkr

— Mirchi 983 Delhi (@Mirchi983Delhi) July 29, 2016

First drain out the lakes, build ugly cities, and when rainwater follows the natural topography of the land, act surprised #gurgaontraffic

— Reeky Coleslaw (@RickieKhosla) July 29, 2016

Bad bad jam in #Gurgaon . Avoid if you can. You will reach nowhere. #Gurgaon #gurgaonrains #gurugram #gurgaontraffic #traffic @dtptraffic

— Pratyush Dixit (@pratyushdixit) July 29, 2016

People reached their houses at 3 in the morning. All thanks to traffic. #gurgaontraffic cc @mlkhattar

— Uma Singhal (@UmaSinghal1) July 29, 2016

Cities should not cry for rain till we have a robust infra #gurgaonrains #gurgaontraffic

— Kreeti (@kreeti) July 29, 2016

Left office (sohna road) at 5:50pm and reached home (mg road) at 9:50pm. Took 4 hours to cover 12km! #Gurgaon #gurgaonrains #gurgaontraffic

— Ruchira | ‏‎روچیرا | रुचिरा (@Ruchira_Gupta) July 29, 2016

Gurgaon is still choked from an hour of rains last afternoon, @cmohry Sir apparently changing the name has not helped. #gurgaontraffic

— Capt Pawan (R) 🇮🇳 (@CaptPKRajRif) July 29, 2016

Hate this city like hell. Never seen such an unplanned millennium city! #gurgaonrains #gurgaontraffic #Gurgaon pic.twitter.com/XgI8XKoqKz

— Ratan Vishwakarma (@ratan4u) July 28, 2016

Kudos to #Gurugram City for successful test drives of the world's first Water Cars : pic.twitter.com/SDwlucDsUV

— Intolerant Monk (@intolerant_monk) July 29, 2016

Choosing to drive in Gurgaon right now be like. pic.twitter.com/rUR3n4ShWL

— Shakti Shetty (@Shakti_Shetty) July 28, 2016