Heavy rains lashed Gwalior and its suburbs on Wednesday afternoon resulting in waterlogged streets and crawling traffic.

After an unusually prolonged dry spell the city finally received heavy rains with the Met department predicting more ‘heavy to moderate’ rains in the coming days.

Normal life was thrown out of gear in many parts of city, with water logging reported from many areas.  Water logging has been reported from Morar, Hajira, Basant Vihar, City Centre and Maharaja Bada. Commuters, especially home returning school children were seen wading through water logged streets in many parts of the city.

Cars and two wheelers were seen half submerged with rain water also entering the ground floors of almost all the houses in these areas. In some places people were seen wading through waist deep water.

The intensity of the rain has once again brought to the forte the dismal condition of the drainage system in the city. Although the rain lasted for only a couple of hours many roads were flooded with open drains. Pedestrians, especially children were seen wading through rainwater mixed with sewage. Many small vehicles, including bikes and scooters broke down and were stranded. Although this problem crops up every time there is a moderate to heavy downpour the Municipal Corporation has so far been unable to find a permanent and meaningful solution.

However no causalities, loss of lives or heavy damage to properties have been reported from anywhere. The intensity of the rains declined towards the evening and people were seen thronging the streets.

On the other hand the heavy downpour seems to have cheered the Corporation authorities as the rains are expected to raise the water levels in the Tighara dam, the sole source of drinking water in the city.