NEW DELHI: The sudden downpour that lashed the city on Wednesday evening left a trail of widespread destruction, with at least 11 deaths being reported in separate rain-related incidents across Delhi-NCR.
Six weather stations across Delhi recorded over 100 mm of rain in a single day, with the India Meteorological Department declaring it as an “extremely intense spell.”
Till 7 am on Thursday, Delhi Police received 2,945 calls about traffic jams, 127 on waterlogging, 27 about building collapses and 50 about uprooted trees.
A woman and her three-year-old son were killed after they fell into an open drain in East Delhi’s Ghazipur, while an elderly couple died in Noida after a boundary wall collapsed on their shanty, the police said on Thursday.
The deceased were identified as Sabur Ali (62) and his wife Ameena, both natives of Assam. Ali worked as a garbage picker and the couple was sleeping when the incident occurred. A Noida Police officer said a preliminary probe suggested the wall collapsed due to rainfall.
At Sabji Mandi area, a 62-year-old man died in a building collapse. Anil Kumar Gupta was probably closing his shop when it collapsed at around 8.30 pm on Wednesday. It took a couple of hours to extricate him from the rubble. He was declared dead when he was rushed to St Stephen’s Hospital.
At Bindapur in Dwarka, a 12-year-old boy died near his residence while he was returning from tuition. Mudit Kumar, came in contact with some electric cables protruding from the ground close to his DDA flat, officials said.
Two more electrocution incidents were reported from south and southeast Delhi. IMD Director General of Meteorology Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said Mayur Vihar received the highest rainfall of 147 mm. “Yesterday’s condition was not a cloudburst; it was an extremely intense spell,” he added.