After record-breaking rain on Sunday, Chandigarh and its satellite districts of Panchkula and Mohali in Haryana and Punjab, respectively, faced a flood threat on Monday amid an incessant downpour since morning in the region, particularly Himachal Pradesh.
Chandigarh recorded 96mm of rainfall till 8.30 am and added on another 51mm till 10.30 am, making it a total of 449mm of rainfall in a span of 50 hours, which is 40% of the annual rainfall quota of the city
The UT police to install barricades at both sides of the affected stretch to bar commuters from crossing these points. Underpasses situated over the Sukhna Lake —the floodgates of which were opened — were waterlogged. These included the Kishangarh Underpass; Shastri Nagar Underpass, Phase-1, Industrial Area; and Makhanmajra Underpass.
As incessant rain lashed most parts of Punjab, the Ghaggar River is now learned to be overflowing, with water flowing at 2.5 feet above the danger mark.
This has sent the alarm bells ringing and a team of National Disaster Response Force has been called out in Tiwana village of Mohali.
“They are at standby, as water is flowing at 12.5 feet, against 10-foot danger mark,” Chief Engineer Irrigation H S Mehndiratta said. He said that they were keeping a close watch as the water in the Ghaggar would flow downstream towards Patiala and Sangrur.