New Delhi, July 9 -- Hours of relentless rainfall brought Gurugram to a near standstill on Thursday, with flooded roads, long traffic jams and stranded commuters dominating the city's landscape. As visuals of inundated streets spread across social media, many users sarcastically dubbed the Millennium City the "Venice of the East", while others questioned the state of civic infrastructure in one of India's largest corporate hubs.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for all districts of Delhi and an orange alert for Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut, warning of more heavy rainfall through the day.

Several weather enthusiasts tracking the monsoon system said the rainfall could intensify over the next few hours....