Unseasonal downpour catches Delhi underprepared

Unexpected rain and thunderstorm that hit the Capital on Friday morning served not just as a disruption but as a stark reminder that Delhi is woefully underprepared for the monsoon season.

With roads submerged, traffic brought to a standstill and lives lost, the city witnessed a near-collapse — all triggered by a brief, unseasonal weather event.

“These rains should be treated as a full-scale drill. More importantly, this unseasonal downpour should serve as a policy alarm. A city of over 20 million cannot afford to be crippled every time the skies open up,” advocate Vineet Jindal, who is a resident of Rohini, told The Tribune.

While the authorities scrambled to clear the mess, the deeper issue looms large. If just a few hours of pre-monsoon rain can unleash this level of chaos, what lies ahead during the peak monsoon months?

This isn’t the first time Delhi has been brought to its knees by heavy rain. Last monsoon, the city experienced record-breaking rainfall that flooded underpasses, choked drains and triggered building collapse. In July 2023, the city saw its heaviest rainfall in four decades, leading to evacuations, power outages and even the overflow of the Yamuna river, submerging large parts of the Capital.

Despite that devastating season, little appears to have changed in terms of preventive infrastructure or urban planning. Friday’s rainfall exposed the same vulnerabilities - blocked drains, poor road gradients, lack of coordination among civic bodies and a failure to act on past lessons.

Urban planners and climate experts have long warned that Delhi’s drainage system, designed decades ago, is incapable of coping with current rainfall patterns — especially with climate change triggering extreme weather patterns.

However, the newly formed BJP Government in Delhi has already started preparing for the monsoon season and aims to complete the desilting of drains and take other necessary measures on a war footing before the rains arrive.

Minister Parvesh Verma said the focus of the Public Works Department (PWD) is not just on temporary fixes, but on building permanent solutions and a time-bound response system.

“The Delhi Government is now adopting a proactive rather than reactive approach to the problem of urban waterlogging. We are dealing with the sins of the past 10 years. It will take time to clean that up. But we’ve started, the people have already begun to see the difference,” he claimed.

The government had also recently issued an order restricting leave for officials of the PWD, Delhi Jal Board and Irrigation and Flood Control Department till September 15 to ensure smooth operations and reduce waterlogging concerns during the monsoon season.