Thursday morning gave enough signs of rain with humidity going up really high. Since the clouds deceived even on Wednesday, public was not prepared to face today’s heavy rainfall. The close to flooded streets in the inner city caused traffic disruption to a great extent.

Though it is very natural to have rain showers after a prolonged spell of humidity, no one was prepared for the heavy showers today which disturbed traffic enough to cause traffic jams. Inner lanes of the city from Gulab Bagh to Surajpole and Mograwadi were almost flooded. With drains blocked there was no escape for water. Horn-honking caused more noise pollution in the lanes blocked with traffic. The road from Gulab Bagh to Khanjipeer turned into a pool, hence traffic jam was obvious. People turning back from Gulab bagh area to find another way out ended up getting stuck in more traffic towards Mograwadi. Delhi gate also had the same issue.

Public was seen taking u-turns to escape into Surajpole lanes. Finally on reaching Surajpole, they were faced by a massive traffic jam and those heading towards Hiranmagri sector 11, 13 and 14 could reach home in around an hour. Traffic moved at an extremely slow pace from Surajpole to City railway station where again people had to move like a snail through a pool right outside the station. Basically, the city was in a mess again because of flooded streets.

Drain blockage is one of the biggest troubles that this “to be smart city” faces every monsoon season. If there is anything that needs to be taken care of, then drains need to be cleared at war footing. If the streets continue to have rain water pools every rainy season, life of many would be at stake. In fact it already is.