Yellow alert for rain till Thursday

The ongoing wet spell with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms is likely to continue in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana till Thursday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a yellow alert for heavy rain in the region, including Chandigarh, for the next three days.

The city received 40-mm downpour during the past 24 hours, which was second highest in the region after 96mm rainfall recorded at Hoshiarpur. The rain led to waterlogging at various low-lying areas, including several roads and busy junctions, throwing the normal life out of gear.

In the absence of any traffic cops, most of the major roads and junctions witnessed traffic chaos and massive jams during the day, especially in the morning and afternoon hours.

The Tribune Chowk, which is the busiest junctions of the city, was the worst-hit with the waterlogged roads on all sides led to traffic jams stretching upto 2-3 km.

“Whenever and wherever there is any traffic chaos or disruption, you will not find any cops, otherwise they are seen everywhere looking to catch violators,” quipped Suresh Kumar, who remained stuck in the traffic jam at the GMCH-32 roundabout for over half-an-hour in the morning.

Another harried commuter, Aakriti Sood complained that despite repeated calls to the police helpline and even posting alerts on the traffic police’s social media handles, no cop was seen regulating traffic at the roads and junctions choked with stranded vehicles.

“I had an appointment with a GMCH-32 doctor at 9:30 am. But due to the massive jam, I remained stuck on the road till 10 am,” rued Kartik Sharma.

Similarly, the office goers and others faced inconvenience due to the traffic chaos.

Meanwhile, maximum temperature in Chandigarh was recorded at 27.7° Celsius with a fall of 6.5 degrees in the past 24 hours and departure of 6.1 degrees from normal. The minimum temperature was 26.8° Celsius with a fall of 1.5 degrees in the past 24 hours.

Mohali and Panchkula also experienced 20mm and 22mm rainfall during the past 24 hours.

Chandigarh