Watch: Road Caves In Near Vasundhara's Atal Chowk After Heavy Rain, Car and Scooter Fall Into Ditch

Ghaziabad offered a dramatic glimpse of just how much havoc this week's monsoon has unleashed, after a stretch of road near Atal Chowk in Vasundhara suddenly gave way, swallowing a parked car and a scooter into a deep construction pit.

The ground had been quietly weakening for hours before it finally gave in. Officials said continuous rain had soaked and loosened the earth along the roadside, where excavation work for a building project was already underway. As the soil eroded, the road surface cracked open and slid into the pit, taking the two vehicles down with it.

Footage from the spot showed a Tata Punch and the two-wheeler tilted and half-buried inside the excavation, mud packed around them. A hydraulic crane was brought in later to lift the vehicles out of the debris.

Police cordoned off the stretch soon after and rerouted traffic while rescue crews worked to secure the area. No one was hurt in the incident.

A city already on its knees

The Vasundhara cave-in was just one flashpoint in a day that left Delhi-NCR struggling to function. The India Meteorological Department placed the capital under an Orange Alert, warning of sustained heavy rain, thunderstorms and gusty winds through the day, with more showers expected until July 10.

Delhi woke up to overnight rain that brought welcome relief from the humidity but left several pockets of the city flooded. Areas around New Delhi Railway Station and Munirka bore the brunt, with commuters wading through knee-deep water and two-wheeler riders taking shelter under metro pillars to escape the downpour. Outer Ring Road, Dhaula Kuan and Ashram also saw heavy congestion as the rain slowed traffic to a crawl.

NH-24 turns into a chokepoint

Few stretches suffered as badly as NH-24 near the Ghazipur border, where accumulated water brought Ghaziabad-to-Delhi traffic to a near-standstill. The NHAI and Delhi Traffic Police rushed in high-capacity pumps and personnel to drain the highway, while issuing an advisory rerouting commuters through Sector 62 towards Vasundhara, then via Budh Chowk and Mohan Nagar, before entering Delhi through the Seemapuri border. Authorities asked travellers to budget extra time or skip the route altogether until the water recedes.

Noida wasn't spared either, with the stretch near Sector 62's Fr. Agnel School, Sector 100 and the Delhi-Noida Expressway all reporting inundated service lanes and bumper-to-bumper delays. In Gurugram, a portion of NH-48 near Narsinghpur on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway caved in under similar conditions, triggering a 10-kilometre jam and prompting several companies to issue work-from-home advisories for the day.

Back in Ghaziabad, Shastri Nagar turned into one of the worst-hit localities, with roads submerged and commuters stuck for hours as vehicles inched through waterlogged lanes.

More rain, more risk ahead

Weather agency Skymet has warned that East Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida could see another 180 to 250 mm of rainfall within the next 24 hours. The IMD expects the wider spell to persist over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh till July 10, with northeastern Uttar Pradesh staying under watch until July 13 and eastern Rajasthan bracing for heavy showers too.

The pattern isn't confined to the capital region. Mathura reported major waterlogging after an intense overnight spell, while Dungarpur in Rajasthan saw flooding cross three feet in several old-city localities, including Ghati, Kanera Pol, Mochi Bazar and Bhoiwada.

With saturated ground now a citywide hazard, authorities are cautioning residents to stay away from construction zones, waterlogged underpasses and low-lying stretches, warning that more cave-ins and landslides could follow if the rain keeps up.

Read More: Relentless Rain Paralyses Delhi-NCR; Red Alert Issued, NH-24 Near Ghazipur Blocked; Check Full Diversions And Hotspots