Gurugram rain: Massive jam on Delhi-Jaipur Expressway leaves commuters stranded overnight

Gurugram’s infrastructure was pushed to the brink on Monday as heavy rainfall triggered severe waterlogging and massive traffic disruptions, leaving thousands of commuters stranded for hours across the city. The deluge, which submerged several key arteries under two to three feet of water, exposed the perennial monsoon preparedness failings that plague the financial hub.

According to a TOI report, the city’s traffic police helpline was inundated with approximately 200 distress calls by 7.30 pm, as residents pleaded for assistance with stalled vehicles, breakdowns and navigational help through the gridlocked streets.

The chaos was particularly acute on the critical Delhi-Jaipur Expressway (NH-48), where a 4-kilometre-long traffic jam stretched from Hero Honda Chowk to Narsinghpur. A video that went viral on X captured the scale of the night-time gridlock, showing an unbroken line of vehicles with their red and white headlights stretching into the distance, immobile on the national highway. Authorities were forced to deploy a water pump near Rajiv Chowk in a bid to drain the flooded carriageway.
The TOI report detailed that the traffic snarls were not confined to the expressway. Major bottlenecks were reported across the city, including at IFFCO Chowk, Kherki Daula toll plaza and an inundated underpass at the Mahavir Chowk bus stand. Other affected areas included Gurugram Railway Station Road, Sheetla Mata Temple Road, Golf Course Road and the vicinity of Galleria Market in DLF Phase-4.

The breakdown of over 25 vehicles, including a bus near Jharsa on the expressway, compounded the crisis. Traffic police teams, employing cranes and manual labour, worked to clear these obstructions and move them to safer locations to ease the congestion.