Residential areas such as Greater Kailash, New Friends Colony, Friends Colony, Maharani Bagh, Jangpura, among others, were some of the worst affected, with arterial roads left entirely submerged with water that had mixed with the sewage also seeping into homes.

Residents bemoaned the backflow of water in their houses and flagged the public health hazard that such an overflowing of sewage networks would entail.

Triveni Mahajan, secretary Friends Colony Residents’ Welfare Association said that houses in the area flooded within hours of rain. “The rainwater nallah flowing through the colony was supposed to carry the water through but with illegal constructions in Taimoor Nagar, constant diversion of sewage into this nullah and constriction on DDA land where the nullah meets the river have created a situation of backflow and flooding,” Mahajan said.

“Monsoons are a nightmare for the residents... MCD, DJB and DDA have failed us. It is a play of the blame game,” Mahajan added.

Maharani Bagh RWA head Shiv Mehra made similar complaints about failed drainage systems.

“We have been raising warnings about the outfall of the Taimoor Nagar drain being clogged for months, but no one listened. Our houses are flooded with sewage water. Now, the entire area faces a health hazard due to sewage overflow,” he said.

Mehra added that the civic bodies should ensure proper fumigation and disinfection to prevent a public health risk in the coming days.

HT reported on Friday how the pendency of work in the Taimoor Nagar drain would aggravate waterlogging during rains. Parts of Friends Colony, New Friends Colony and Maharani Bagh have their drainage outfall in the Taimoor Nagar drain, which then meets the Yamuna. Mehra said that unless the encroachments and waste clogging the drains are cleared, the southeast Delhi neighbourhoods will continue to report flooding episodes. MCD in its official report dated June 27 has claimed that 95.46% of desilting work has been completed and by June 30 --total of 78062 tonnes of silt will be taken out.

Anjali Singh, a resident of G-block in Maharani Bagh said that they found the house inundated with brownish wastewater when they woke up at 7:00am. “All of our furniture and Persian carpets were under the water coming out of the drains as the drains were blocked. We had to hire 11 workers, borrowed some bricks from a nearby site to increase the level of the furniture. We have suffered heavy losses. We were raising the issue of imminent flooding in the colony from last three months but nobody paid heed to our concerns,” she added. Singh said that the flooding in the area has become an annual phenomenon but this time all previous levels have been breached. “Water was just gushing inside. The transformer of the AC burnt and smoke was coming out.”

Triveni Mahajan, secretary RWA Friends colony said: “Houses in Friends Colony have been flooded today with just couple of hours of rain. The rainwater nallah flowing through the colony was supposed to carry the water through but with illegal construction in Taimoor Nagar, constant diversion of sewage into this Nallah and constriction on DDA land where the Nallah meets the river have created a situation of backflow and flooding.

Monsoons are dreaded and a nightmare for the Residents of this A grade colony. MCD, DJB and DDA have failed us . No authority cares to solve this issue as the constituency change, MLA change and MCD division changes along the length of the Nallah.

In GK, low-lying areas in the E and M blocks were badly hit. General secretary of the GK 2 RWA, Sanjay Rana, said that the sewer system overflowed and started flooding homes as soon as the rain gathered momentum. “We woke up with run-off water entering our house from the back lanes and gushing to the front. Our RWA received over 30 calls about houses and basements getting flooded,” Rana said, adding that whole streets were covered in water and roads turned into drains.

Some lost their art collections. Others deployed the use of heavy amounts of phenyl, disinfectants and incense sticks just to ward off the stench.

Navjeet Chaddah, a resident of M block GK-2 said that his collection of expensive artworks, some that had been handed down to him by his father, have been damaged with sewage mixed water. “I had more than 36 painting which are drenched in wastewater. We had painstakingly collected them over so many years,” he added.

Rana said that despite tall claims by civic agencies, desilting had not been carried out adequately and emergency vehicles like super suckers (desludging vehicles) had to be deployed.

Owing to substations being affected, power supply was cut in some affected areas to reduce electrocution risks. Residents complained about the lack of emergency helplines and quick response teams during the night.

At Ekta Apartment on Press Enclave Road, Saket, people drained water from their homes using buckets and mugs. “The drains are choked and water harvesting pits do not work. So, all the water from the main road has entered our homes. My furniture is spoilt, and the carpets are wet... Even the beds with storage have water inside. We are paying one of the highest property tax rates, but this is the kind of patchwork that authorities are doing,” said GL Verma, president of Ekta Apartment RWA.