Heavy rains lashed Delhi and other parts of the NCR on Friday morning bringing life to a standstill and exposing the tall claims made by the authorities that they were prepared to deal with a situation arising from downpour.

According to the IMD, the city received a record-breaking 228 mm of rainfall during the past 24 hours, up to 8.30 am on Friday morning, while Delhi minister Atishi has said that this amount of rainfall in 24 hours occurred last in 1936, which was 88 years ago

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Several storm-water drains across the city, especially those in the southern part, kept overflowing due to the unprecedented inflow of water due to the heavy downpour, resulting in drain water spilling out to the nearby areas.

With the rain leaving several areas waterlogged the city faced a flood-like situation affecting common life and the traffic moving at a snail’s pace.

No area, however privileged or up-market it might be, remained immune from flooding. With the drains unable to take in the flow, rainwater entered homes in some places causing enormous inconvenience to the households.

The rainwater also seeped into the houses of senior politicians at Lutyens’ Delhi leaving them cursing the drainage system. Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor shared a video clip of waterlogging on social media platform X with people standing and wading through knee-deep water.

Tharoor captioned his post: “Woke up to find my entire home under a foot of water — every room. Carpets and furniture, indeed anything on the ground, were ruined. Apparently, the stormwater drains in the neighbourhood are all clogged so the water had no place to go.”

He, however, said he was impressed by Delhi LG VK Saxena, who called him after seeing his social media post and pledged to do everything in his power to ensure that the problem is fixed before the next major shower.

Apart from Lutyens’ Delhi, ITO, Mundka, Azad Market underpass, Dwarka sector 20, Wazirpur, Minto Bridge, Chandni Chowk, Janpgpura and several other areas also faced waterlogging.

Newly elected BJP MPs in Delhi, including Bansuri Swaraj, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, and Yogendra Chandolia, reached out to their respective constituencies majorly affected by the waterlogging.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Traffic Police issued advisories and alerts for commuters about the affected roads, and carriageways informing the motorists and commuters to plan their travel accordingly.

Social media was flooded with videos from across the city showing areas inundated with water and people stranded in traffic jams as they headed toward their respective workplaces.

At some places, vehicles could be seen stuck in cave-ins following the showers, while many vehicles were seen submerged in water, especially at the underpasses, where water was so much so that it could submerge more than half of a bus and a truck.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) also announced a temporary closure of Yashobhoomi station at Dwarka Sector- 25 due to heavy rain.

Several people who were stuck on the road due to waterlogging were rescued by agencies like the Delhi Fire Services and the Delhi Police.

A bus was stuck in the Azad Market underpass while a truck was stuck under the Minto bridge near Connaught Place.

Delhi cabinet ministers, Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, and Imran Hussain, held an emergency meeting with the officials of the different departments at the Delhi Secretariat to discuss ways to deal with the situation arising from rain.

Talking to a news agency, the Delhi Mayor said concerned officials are on the ground and have identified the key spots that face maximum waterlogging. The residents will not face such a situation once again, she assured.

In Noida, the authorities on Friday held a review meeting with the concerned circle in-charges, health department, civil, water department, and other departments regarding the problem of waterlogging.