Airport Roof Collapse to Waterlogging: 24 Hours of Downpour Exposes Delhi's Infra

New Delhi: Delhiites, who recently battled one of the worst heatwaves on record, are now grappling with widespread flooding after incessant rains. The 24-hour downpour wreaked havoc across the city, causing a roof collapse at the airport that killed a cab driver, disrupting flights, closing a metro station, blocking underpasses, and causing major traffic jams. What was supposed to be a break from the heat turned into mayhem for the city, exposing the city's bad infrastructure. 

The season's first heavy spell of rain brought back familiar scenes of waterlogged roads, underpasses, vehicles stuck in water, and long traffic snarls, with many residents expressing frustration over the city's drainage infrastructure.

In a protest against the "collapsing" infrastructure, Delhi BJP councillor Ravinder Singh Negi, a resident of Vinod Nagar in east Delhi, was seen rowing an inflatable boat on a flooded street. He demonstrated the extent of the flooding in his locality and blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. “All PWD drains are overflowing. They didn’t get them cleaned ahead of Monsoon. This has led to waterlogging… Vinod Nagar is submerged,” said the BJP leader, pausing his rowing to speak to ANI.   

Day 1 of Monsoon Brings Delhi to its Knees

Lutyens' Delhi, known for its world-class infrastructure, has now turned into a dumping ground for garbage. Poor drainage, broken roads, congestion, and unauthorized construction have worsened the situation, making daily life difficult for its residents. 

Delhi Airport Roof Collapse: At the airport's busy Terminal 1, a cab driver identified as Ramesh Kumar died and six people were injured after a portion of a canopy at Delhi airport’s Terminal-1 collapsed on cars amid heavy rain. Kumar, was rescued from a car on which an iron beam had fallen but was declared dead when he was taken to the Medanta Hospital facility near the terminal. The injured were admitted to the hospital.

Delhi airport operator DIAL, which set up a technical committee to probe the roof collapse, said in a statement, "While the cause for the collapse is being assessed, the primary cause seems to be the continued heavy rainfall over the past few hours." 

Later a case under Section 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) was registered against unknown persons in the airport roof collapse tragedy, Delhi Police officials said.

Flights Impacted: Following the roof collapse at Terminal 1 of Delhi Airport, IndiGo cancelled all flights departing from the affected terminal until 12:00 AM on June 29.  “6ETravelAdvisory: Delhi Airport Terminal 1 update - Due to the unforeseen situation at T1 this morning, all flights from #DelhiAirport T1 have been cancelled until 0000 hrs, June 29. Further, flights due to arrive at T1, will now arrive either at T2 or T3 in Delhi”, IndiGo wrote on X (formerly Twitter). At Terminal 1, a tragic incident took place on Friday morning as heavy rain caused a canopy at the departure area to collapse around 5 am. Several people were trapped, and one person was killed, with his identity still to be confirmed.

SpiceJet, on the other hand,  re-accommodated flights to Terminal 3. “All affected SpiceJet flights departing from Terminal 1 are being re-accommodated to Terminal 3. Necessary information has been communicated to all the passengers via SMS/Email. Due to heavy traffic congestion enroute Delhi Airport, all passengers are requested to ensure sufficient travel time and keep a check on their flight status via http://bit.ly/2tG9xBx” , the airline said.  

For the unversed, T1 has only domestic flight operations by IndiGo and SpiceJet. The airport -- which has three terminals T1, T2 and T3 -- handles around 1,400 flight movements daily.

Roads Waterlogged: Continuous rainfall led to widespread waterlogging across several areas of the National Capital. Social media users posted images showing severe traffic snarls and flooded roads in various parts of Delhi. According to the Delhi Traffic Police, waterlogging at the Minto Bridge underpass caused traffic disruptions on Minto Road in both directions, from Kamla Market towards Connaught Place and vice versa. At the Azad Market underpass, trucks were completely submerged in water. 

Traffic on Anuvrat Marg was also heavily affected by waterlogging in both directions from 100 Foota Red Light to Lado Sarai Red Light. Visuals from Connaught Place and the areas surrounding several metro stations showed streets submerged in water.  

In Noida and Ghaziabad, workers faced further inconvenience due to flooded roads caused by the relentless rain. Numerous areas, including Teen Murti Marg, Moolchand, Anand Vihar, Mehrauli Badarpur Road, Mandawali, Bhikaji Cama Place, Madhu Vihar, Pragati Maidan, Vir Banda Bairagi Marg, Aurobindo Marg, Outer Ring Road, Munirka, Dhaula Kuan, Moti Bagh, ITO, and several sectors in Noida, are flooded.

Water supply Affected: Water supply in several areas in Delhi was severely affected due to a critical fault at the Chandrawal WW-II pump house following heavy rains on Friday morning, the Delhi Jal Board said. The disruption in the water supply will persist on Saturday too. In a post on X, the DJB said, "Due to the backflow of rainwater during heavy rain in the morning on June 28, the clear water pump house developed a major fault that resulted in complete stoppage of pumping." "Due to this, evening water supply from Chandrawal WW-II got affected on 28.06.2024 and further water supply will remain affected on June 29 also," it said.

According to the DJB, water supply has been affected in Civil Lines, near Hindu Rao Hospital, Kamla Nagar, Shakti Nagar, Karol Bagh, Paharganj, NDMC areas, and several others, including Old Rajinder Nagar, New Rajinder Nagar, Patel Nagar, Baljeet Nagar and Inderpuri. The DJB urged residents in these areas to store adequate water and authorities have announced that water tankers would be made available to people upon request to mitigate inconvenience. "Efforts are underway to rectify the pump house issue. However, full restoration of water supply is expected to take time," it said in a statement.

Power Cut: Several parts of Delhi experienced long power cuts on Friday due to technical faults and precautionary shutdowns implemented to prevent electrocution in waterlogged areas following heavy rainfall. Residents of Dwarka, Jangpura and Laxmi Nagar said the power supply was disrupted as soon as it started raining in their areas. "The power supply was cut around 3-4 am amid heavy rains and was restored hours later at 4 pm," a Jangpura resident Pranav Mishra said. Many areas, including Nizamuddin, Jangpura, Sector 7 in Dwarka, parts of Pitampura, Rohini, Model Town, Mukherjee Nagar, Timarpur, parts of Hauz Khas, Green Park, Mayapuri, Sangam Vihar, Paharganj, Sadar Bazar, Ram Nagar, Bara Hindu Rao, Karawal Nagar, Sonia Vihar, Seelampur, Laxmi Nagar, and Trilok Puri, faced power outages of varying durations.

 "Heavy rains caused power disruptions in several areas of the city, primarily due to waterlogging and the falling of trees and branches on electricity cables. To safeguard human lives and prevent electrocution, it became necessary to cut the electricity supply in some waterlogged and low-lying areas as a precautionary measure," a spokesperson of BSES discoms (distribution companies) BRPL and BYPL said. 

Delhi Water Minister's House Submerged 

Social media was flooded with videos and photos of vehicles stranded on inundated roads and long traffic jams. One video that stood out was of the area outside Atishi's residence, the irony being that Atishi, the water minister of Delhi, had her house submerged in the deluge. Following the video, people came down heavily on the Delhi government led by AAP. “Their drama has ruined Delhi, now Atishi will make another excuse”, said one of the users on X (formerly Twitter). Another said, "This is the first rain..monsoon has not yet arrived.   

Torrential Rain Breaks 88-Year-Old Record

Delhi experienced a historic rainfall, receiving 228 mm of rain from 8:30 am yesterday to 8:30 am today. This marks the highest 24-hour rainfall in June since 1936, when 235.5 mm was recorded. Normally, Delhi's average rainfall for June is just 80.6 mm, making this an exceptional weather occurrence according to the Meteorological Department.