Srinagar, Jul 20: Incessant rainfall for a couple of hours on Monday morning caused a flood-like situation in many parts of Srinagar as several roads and streets, especially in Downtown areas, were submerged, causing inconvenience to commuters and pedestrians alike.
Rising Kashmir received multiple calls from different areas, including Baba Demb, Chandapora Habba Kadal, Khanyar, Seki Dafar, Barthana Qamarwari, Kadi Kadal, Maisuma, Lal Chowk, Jahangir Chowk, Batamaloo near DPL Srinagar, JVC Bemina, and others, where roads and streets remained flooded. Commuters and pedestrians found it difficult to traverse these roads and reach their destinations.
“The water has not only affected commuters, but rainwater has entered shops here as well,” locals said, adding that authorities could have prevented such a situation by taking adequate measures to repair the drainage system properly. The flooded roads put brakes on normal life in Srinagar as markets witnessed the least footfall till the afternoon hours, leading to demands for augmenting and repairing the drainage system across the city.
As soon as the rain stopped, officials from the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) were seen dewatering the areas at multiple places. SMC Commissioner Fazlul Haseeb told media persons that the excess rainfall that occurred in the morning and lasted for more than two hours was beyond the drainage capacity. “Our teams are in action since morning and we have identified 60 hotspots in the city. Wherever required, we are deploying teams both from the city drainage site and mechanical drainage site,” he said.
Haseeb said the city witnessed a sudden spell of intense rainfall over two hours, resulting in widespread waterlogging. Teams from the City Drainage, S&D-II, and Mechanical Drainage divisions were pressed into service immediately, with dewatering stations operating continuously in areas where permanent pumping infrastructure is available, while mobile dewatering pumps are being deployed at locations where water is not receding.
The SMC Commissioner said the broader issue of whether the city’s drainage infrastructure matches its growing requirements is a separate discussion, adding that the immediate priority is to effectively manage the situation over the next three days. “All dewatering stations, mobile pumps, and field teams have been kept on alert, while the SMC’s control room is functioning round the clock to receive public complaints,” Haseeb said. He urged residents facing waterlogging to contact the control room so that response teams can be dispatched without delay.
