The monsoon arrived in the city on Sunday, almost a fortnight ahead of the schedule, with the capital recording around 36.6 mm rainfall.
“The monsoon has reached Delhi,” the met office said, adding that the seasonal rains lashed the capital almost two weeks ahead of its scheduled arrival on June 29.
The Met department said that 36.6 mm rainfall was recorded in nine hours in the city till 5.30 pm. Incessant heavy rains led to waterlogging and traffic snarls in Laxminagar, ITO, Kashmere Gate, Prahladpur flyover, MB Road, Mathura Road and at the IGI airport here, causing inconvenience to passengers who had to wade through knee-deep water.
“The rain water entered international and domestic arrival halls and affected passenger movement in the halls and lobby,” a source said
The airport witnessed an “unprecedented” rainfall of 117.8 mm in four-and-half hours, between 1 pm and 5.30 pm. The airport experienced 62.8 mm of rains between 1 pm and 2.30 pm and 55 mm between 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm. Rain water, combined with poor drainage in the surrounding areas and topography of airport, led to back flow of water towards the Terminal 3.
Services at the domestic arrivals were the most affected due to flooding which forced the airport authorities to close the functioning of four baggage belts, causing inconvenience to passengers.
As the water entered the terminal building, the airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) pressed emergency workers into action to drain the water out of the terminal. The situation was brought under control in the evening.
According to sources, there was knee deep water near the exit of Airport Express Metro and passengers had to wade through it to reach the terminal.
In a statement, airport operator DIAL said, “In view of poor drainage in surrounding areas and the comparatively low elevation of the airport, today’s heavy rainfall (over 117 mm in four hours) led to back flow of water towards the terminals. Due to adequate capacity of all services, operations remained normal. It may be noted that local authorities have recently started work on augmenting drainage facilities in surrounding areas. Upon completion, it is hoped the said drainage works will stem the back flow of water and prevent the recurrence of incidents like today.”
Earlier, the airport had witnessed similar incident of flooding in September 2011, when airport area received 115.6 mm of rains in just 75 minutes, between 2.30 pm and 3.45 pm.
Commuters were furious at the Delhi Government for not preparing the capital for monsoon season, knowing the same problems will crops up every year.
“Why PWD, DDA, MCD, NDMC cannot prepare for the monsoon. Waterlogging takes place all over Delhi then why is our government does not care for the problems of common man,” said an exasperated commuter Kunal Kumar, who was stuck in a jam on the Mathura Road for almost an hour.
Last year, the onset of monsoon was delayed by eight days. It had reached Delhi ahead of schedule in 2011 (June 26), but arrived late in 2010 (July 5).