Heavy rain in Panchkula on Thursday. (Express Photo by Jaipal Singh)
TRICITY RECEIVED 9 mm rainfall on Thursday evening, though the clouds dumped 36 mm rainfall on the outskirts. Friday will see the rain continue, the weather department predicted. But even this much rain was enough to bring traffic to a halt at many places in Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali. Dr Surinder Paul, director of the Chandigarh Meteorological Centre, said the city would receive moderate rainfall in the next 24 hours, but the weekend may not see much rain.
“This is an active phase of monsoon but with rainfall, humidity level is also expected to fluctuate and rise in city,” he added. The maximum temperature on Wednesday was 35.6 degrees Celsius and minimum 26.8 degrees Celsius. As per records of the weather department, rainfall occurred from 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm. But it continued to drizzle late into the night.
As per the weather department, the maximum temperature will be in the range of 32-34 degree Celsius while the minimum temperature will be much cooler between 26-27 degrees Celsius till the coming weekend. Due to rainfall, major traffic snarls were reported in the evening. Commuters moving out from Chandigarh towards Zirakpur and Panchkula were the most affected. The city also witnessed lack of co-ordination from traffic police as long traffic snarls were reported following heavy rainfall here at Dakshin Marg and Madhya Marg. Several vehicles moving from light points of the Piccadily chowk towards Mohali were also trapped in the traffic snarls for around half an hour.
Despite the claimed traffic police deployment on the roads, vehicles were seen piled up in long snarls. There were no measures to streamline traffic for single-lane driving. Traffic congestions were mostly witnessed near Sector 44-43 roundabout road at Dakshin Marg, Tribune Chowk, Hallomajra Light Point, and from Transport Light Point in Sector 26 towards Housing Board Light Point.
Joginder Kaur, a resident of Zirakpur, said that it took her more than an hour to reach Zirakpur while crossing from the Tribune Chowk. Gautam, a resident of Panchkula, said, “I had to change my route to enter Panchkula as there was a lot of chaos at every entry point to Chandigarh.” However, by late evening traffic police teams were seen regulating the traffic.
