Breaking a record set in 2006, the city saw a 121 mm deluge on Thursday in a maniac 6 hours from 8am to 2pm throwing life out of gear completely in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, with a boy losing his life. Even the Panchkula-Yamuna Nagar national highway that is under construction got washed away at four places.
Ironically, till Thursday, the tricity’s rainfall this monsoon was less than half the normal it should have got.
A 5-year-old boy Vivek died after getting electrocuted to death near his house in Sector 20, Panchkula. He was playing in rain outside his house, when he got in touch with electricity current flowing in water from a nearby transformer. He was taken to General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, where doctors declared him brought dead. The victim’s grandather Gautam Prasad is a former councillor of Panchkula local body.
The situation in the adjoining city of Panchkula, Haryana, wasn’t any better.
TRAFFIC CHAOS
Traffic remained out of gear in Chandigarh and office goers had a harrowing time driving through the nearly choked rotaries of Chandigarh. Almost all traffic lights stopped working. Traffic cops were seen at few rotaries and lights points but were of little help.
TREES UPROOTED IN SECTORS 24 AND 11
On Thursday, two trees were uprooted in Sectors 24 and 11. In Sector 11, tree fell on the car and damaged it. The rain also clogged traffic on highways between Chandigarh-Ludhiana at Kharar and Chandigarh-Delhi at Zirakpur. At the airport, there were no cancellations, but a few flights got delayed .
IN MOHALI, TRAFFIC COPS ON VIP DUTY
In Mohali, traffic cops were deployed on VIP duty at Kiratpur Sahib for the visit of state chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to immerse the ashes of his late mother Mohinder Kaur
Traffic was blocked at various points including Phase 4, Airport Road, Sector 71,Phase 3B1 and 3B2 and near the Radha Soami Satsang Beas Light point. Over 40 cops from Mohali were deployed on the CM’s route.
“The roads all around the city were clogged with nearly 3 feet of water, making it impossible to move around. Not enough cops were on duty to help the public,” said Ketan Sharma. Phase 5, Phase 6, Phase 1 and Sohana Landran also saw jams.