12 hours of rainfall and waterlogging brings traffic to halt during peak hours

Key roads witnessed major congestions, especially from Chandigarh to Zirakpur, PGI to Sarangpur leading to Mullanpur and the Ambala National Highway, where vehicles remained stuck from Zirakpur to Dera Bassi for a long time.

Waterlogged roads posed a serious challenge to two-wheeler riders as they had to wade through waterlogging or abandon their vehicles.

In a related incident, lightning struck a house at Sector 39-D earlier in the day, but no loss of life was reported, though the property suffered significant damage.

“I was trapped as water reached to the silencer of my scooter. I had no option but to wade it out. There was no help in sight,” said Anuj Bhalla, a city resident, who got stuck on his two-wheeler in Phase 7, Mohali. “For such situations, the administration must deploy emergency teams to assist those stuck in the water.”

Manpreet Singh, who was driving from PGI to Khuda Lahora, said, “It took me more than an hour to cross 10 minutes. Vehicles were bumper-to-bumper, and people were visibly frustrated. This level of unpreparedness for monsoon is shocking.”

Joginder Kaur, travelling to Ambala, shared a similar experience. “I was stuck for more than an hour between Zirakpur and Dera Bassi. The traffic wasn’t moving at all. I had to cancel my plan.”

The rainfall once again exposed the city’s inadequate drainage infrastructure and the lack of coordinated emergency response.

The UT Administration reopened one of the floodgates of Sukhna Lake around 7.30 pm on Friday after the water level rose alarmingly close to the danger mark of 1,163 feet owing to incessant rainfall in Chandigarh and its catchment areas.

The gate was lifted to a height of three inches to release excess water into the Sukhna Choe, which eventually flows into the Ghaggar river.

This marks the second opening of the floodgate in just over 24 hours. The first operation took place on Wednesday around 11 am, after a gap of nearly two years, and the gate remained open until 11 pm that night.

During Wednesday’s operation, the gate was raised by six inches and later closed when the lake’s water level receded to 1,162.20 feet.

Today’s action was initiated when the lake’s level reached 1,162.95 feet.

UT officials said the gate would be closed again once the water drops to approximately 1,162 feet.

The UT Engineering Department has stationed officials at the lake’s regulator around the clock to monitor the situation, aided by CCTV surveillance.

A dedicated control room has also been set up to ensure seamless coordination with the district administrations of Chandigarh, Mohali, and Panchkula during any emergency related to the floodgate operation.

Officials confirmed that the neighbouring district Administrations were alerted before the gate’s reopening. Earlier on June 28, the floodgates were also opened briefly as part of a routine inspection to assess their functionality.