<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The first spell of heavy monsoon rain created mayhem in residential and commercial areas of Delhi on Saturday, with inundated roads and overflowing drains leading to massive waterlogging and paralysed traffic for hours.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Safdarjung observatory, the city's primary weather station, recorded 126.1 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Delhi government officials, the city received more than 100 mm rain in a single day, which is 15 per cent of the total rainfall it gets every monsoon. This much water cannot be drained while the rain is still on, they said, adding that once the rain stopped, the water was cleared rapidly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The morning rain that continued for several hours led to water gushing into the storerooms of the city's most popular shopping destination, Connaught Place, and a closure of the Minto Bridge underpass for traffic due to waterlogging.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The mess caused by the rain also exposed the preparations of various civic bodies ahead of September, when six G20 Summit events, including the summit meeting, are scheduled to take place in the national capital.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Motorists and pedestrians had a hard time navigating waterlogged roads, flyovers and footpaths, while traders faced trouble stopping the rain water entering their shops in several areas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This was the season's first heavy spell of rain. An "orange" alert was sounded for Saturday and a "yellow" alert has been sounded for Sunday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The traffic department received 56 calls related to waterlogging, six regarding fallen trees and five related to potholes, it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Minto Bridge underpass has been closed for vehicular traffic due to the incessant rains that have led to waterlogging. Heavy waterlogging was also reported from the Tilak Bridge underpass.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Waterlogging was reported from the Pandav Nagar underpass, Purana Quila Road, Dwarka Link Road, NH-48 near Shiv Murti, Rohtak Road, Vikas Marg, under the AIIMS flyover, under the Moolchand flyover, Mother Teresa Crescent-Sardar Patel Marg and under Tilak Bridge among other places, the traffic police said. HT</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>