Pune: As heavy rains lashed the city, water logging and slowing down of the traffic flow, combined with the heavy traffic volume, threw the overall traffic of the city out of gear on Friday, especially on the connecting roads, leading to bottlenecks at major traffic junctions and low-lying areas. It started pouring in some parts of the city around noon and within an hour, the entire city was covered by showers.
Traffic on several major roads in the city witnessed congestions during the peak hours because of waterlogging and potholes.
The traffic situation in some parts of the city worsened due to non-functional traffic signals. Air passengers, who usually leave for the airport two hours before their flight departures, today left three hours early to avoid traffic congestions and heavy rain.
However, there were no reports of flight delays or passengers missing their flights.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Ashok Morale said, “The main reason for traffic issues in many parts of the city was water logging after the rain on Friday afternoon. Our entire staff, including all the senior officers, were on the roads to ease snarls across the city. There were some serious issues around Baner Phata, where waterlogging caused traffic jams for hours.”
“The sudden heavy rainfall slowed down traffic in Shivajinagar area. The vehicular movement was very slow near Shimla Office Chowk till the rain stopped. We have deputed four staffs with senior officials to streamline traffic,” said Shankar Damse, PI, Shivajinagar Traffic Police.
“Traffic was slow due to the heavy rain. Commuters stopped their vehicles and stood under bridges and flyovers. This slowed down traffic for over half an hour,” said Sudam Pachorkar, PI, Swargate Traffic Police.
The Pune fire brigade received complaints of tree fall from Sahkarnagar, Katraj, Juna Bazar and FC Road. According to fire officials, they received 12 calls of trees falling in Sahkarnagar area, four from Katraj area and two near Juna Bazar area.
Some complaints related to waterlogging in societies were also received.
