Three hours of heavy rain floods Guwahati areas

GUWAHATI: After days of scorching heat, over three hours of heavy showers brought the mercury down in Guwahati on Saturday afternoon triggering flash floods in several parts of the city.
According to the Met department, the city received 56 mm of rainfall while 104.5 mm was recorded around IIT Guwahati on the northern bank of Brahmaputra river and 33 mm in the areas around Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.
The rain inundated Maligaon, Lakhtokia, RG Baruah Road, Maniram Dewan Road, Hatigaon, Christian Basti, Jatia, Dr B K Kakati Road in Ulubari area, which led to severe traffic congestion. Commuters were left stranded for several hours.
Several parts of the city, including the stretch from Bharalumukh to Fancy Bazar, and the Panbazar area were flooded. The flooded stretch between the newly constructed Nilachal flyover was inaugurated in August this year. The Boripara flyover also got inundated.
Trishna Deka, a commuter, said it took her nearly three hours to reach Panbazar from Jalukbari. "It is pathetic that just after an hour of rain, every part of the city got flooded. I had to wait for nearly two hours on a bus to reach home from my workplace."
The inland water transport department had suspended the ferry services between Guwahati and North Guwahati.
An ICC World Cup 2023 warm-up match between India and England at the Barsapara cricket stadium here was also washed out.
The India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Regional Meteorological Centre in Guwahati issued a "yellow" alert till October 4, with a warning of "thunderstorms with lightning and heavy rain at isolated places" and "heavy to very heavy" rainfall in several districts of the state.