Heavy rains leave large parts of Gurgaon waterlogged, 62-yr-old electrocuted

Among the worst affected stretches was the DLF Phase 1 underpass on Golf Course Road, which was submerged, with fire tenders deployed to pump out the water. Satyawan Samriwal, assistant divisional fire officer, said, “Five fire tenders have been deployed to pump out the water… A car is also submerged. The driver abandoned the vehicle once he realised he wouldn’t be able to get it out.”

A spokesperson from DLF, which handles the underpass, attributed the waterlogging to an obstruction in the drainage system: “The underpasses on Raghavendra Marg have been in use for the last 3-4 years, we have never experienced waterlogging of this magnitude before. The intensity of rainfall received this morning was 6-7 times higher than the designed capacity of Gurgaon’s master drainage system.”

Several others underpasses had to be closed, including at Sikanderpur, at IFFCO Chowk and at Rajiv Chowk. Six fire tenders, two at each underpass, were deployed to pump out the water, with officials saying all three structures would be cleared by Wednesday night.

“Flooding was observed at service road of Narsinghpur, IFFCO Chowk underpass, Medanta underpass and Hero Honda chowk… IFFCO Chowk underpass is already functional and Medanta underpass is likely to reopen by midnight, as cleaning of mud is required,” said Ashok Sharma, project director at National Highways Authority of India, which manages the underpasses.

“The problem occurs due to uncontrolled rainwater hitting NH8 at these locations. Until a permanent arrangement is made by local agencies to control this, it will continue,” he said.

Officials from the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) stated that “low-lying areas” were most affected and that waterlogging was not due to a lack of preparedness. “The drains have been cleaned; we also deployed around 40 pumps across the city to manage waterlogging. However, we received almost 130 mm of rain — a lot for Gurgaon. The water from the city goes into the Badshahpur and Najafgarh drains, which are at full capacity. So, drainage of excess water became a problem,” said Raman Sharma, MCG chief engineer.

“The situation was exacerbated by the fact that rainfall occurred during office hours,” said DCP (Traffic) Chander Mohan, adding that around “3,000-4,000 police personnel” were deployed to manage the situation.

MCG Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said work was on to rectify the situation.