New Delhi, Aug 21 - Traffic came to a halt. Trees were uprooted. Flights were delayed and diverted to other destinations. Low-lying areas were flooded and authorities threw their hands up in helplessness - Friday was another manic rainy day in Delhi.

The heavy showers started around 2.30 p.m. and Delhi received 74 mm of rainfall in just two hours. The downpour brought the day temperature down to 22 degrees Celsius, an official at the Safdarjung Meteorological Office said.

Within an hour there was chaos on the Delhi roads with reports of waterlogging on several key, arterial stretches, delayed flights, red lights going on the blink and choked drains.

Authorities said they were 'helpless' and the blame game began between the civic agencies.

'When it rains like this, such problems are likely to happen. We don't want to pass the buck but as we have said before the most vulnerable areas for waterlogging come under the Delhi government's Public Works Department (PWD) and now under the Delhi Metro as they are undertaking construction in many areas,' Mayor Kanwar Sain told IANS.

Till 6.15 p.m., the municipal control room had received complaints of waterlogging in 12 areas and of uprooted trees in 14 other places.

Interestingly, the civic agency had Thursday cited that it controlled 88 percent of the Delhi's urban roads and hence needed higher fund allocation for maintenance.

Even flights out of the national capital were either suspended, rescheduled or cancelled. A portion of the new domestic terminal building was damaged due to the rain and a bit of roof fell down.

'The sudden downpour required us to first divert all incoming flights,' said an official at the Air Traffic Control. 'We also advised all airlines to hold outgoing flights till the conditions improve.'

'In this downpour, a small portion of the roof above Terminal 1D caved in.