Heavy rain brings city to standstill

JAIPUR: The city received the season's highest rainfall on Wednesday evening, with the downpour leaving the arterial roads waterlogged for several hours and rainwater inundating low-lying residential areas. A 30-year-old man was washed away in a drain near Gangapole under the Galta Gate police station area, police said. Body of the victim, identified as Bharat Mahavar of Kagazi Wada area under Brahmpuri police station was recovered once the water subsided late in the night.
The intermittent rain that continued till late in the night threw normal life out of gear, as people returning home from workplaces were stuck in traffic jams for hours at several places.
The Met department, however, recorded just 27.3 mm rainfall till 8:30 pm. The irrigation department, on the other hand, said it had rained 31 mm by 5:30 pm. The wide gap in the figures measured by the two departments is explained by the fact that both record rain at different places in the city.
The rain that started around 4:30 pm brought relief to the residents by bringing down the day temperature, but long traffic snarls due to waterlogged roads caused great difficulty for the commuters.
Major roads like MI Road, Station Road, Prithviraj Marg, Tonk Road, JLN Marg and Ajmer Road were completely inundated, paralysing the vehicular traffic at several places. The situation was particularly worse at Rambagh Circle, Narain Singh Circle, Statue Circle and Khasa Kothi, where the traffic moved at a snail's pace. At Rambagh Circle, long queues of vehicles stretched up to the Polo ground towards the Ambedkar Circle, up to the SMS School towards the Narain Singh Circle and up to the JMC headquarters towards Gandhi Nagar.
The Prithviraj Marg was completely blocked between Chomu Circle and the Statue Circle. Similar traffic jams were seen at Panch Batti on the MI Road and between the Collectorate Circle and the Khasa Kothi Circle. The large potholes on almost every road and uncovered drains at certain places created a scary situation for the residents, as concerned relatives started making phone calls to know the whereabouts of their dear ones. There have been incidents of commuters on two-wheelers getting washed away in open drains during heavy rains in Jaipur in the recent past also. Mahavar, who was washed away near Gangapole was riding a scooter, police said.
The evening downpour also inundated dozens of low-lying colonies, mainly those situated in the Amanisha Nullah. At many places water entered the houses in these colonies.
Meanwhile, Jaipur's water bodies like Tal-Katora behind the Govind Devji temple and the Ramgarh Lake on the city outskirts received huge inflows.
The Met department has predicted heavy to normal rainfall in the state on Thursday. The state has already received 20% more rainfall this time as compared to last year's monsoon season, they said.