Moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds pummelled Delhi on Wednesday, inundating low-lying areas. Strong winds uprooted trees and snapped power and internet cables in several areas, throwing parts of the national Capital into chaos.
The heavy showers provided a much-needed respite from the heat, but brought the familiar sight of snaking lines of vehicles stuck on waterlogged roads for interminable minutes. People shared pictures and videos of rainwater gushing into residential areas and vehicles wading through waterlogged roads. However, the maximum temperature in the city slipped to 35.1 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of the year.
The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi's primary weather station, recorded 52.4 mm of rainfall, and maximum temperature of 35.1 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year. The weather stations at Palam, Lodhi Road, Ridge, Ayanagar, Delhi University, Pusa and Sport Complex (near Commonwealth Games Village) logged 92.4mm, 64mm, 21mm, 46.9mm, 21mm, 32mm and 19 mm of precipitation, respectively. The relative humidity in the Capital was recorded 84 per cent at 8:30 A.M. and 94 per cent at 5:30 P.M.
According to the reports by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), a total of 11 complaints of flooding were received by the civic body across the Capital in the areas including, Satya Niketan, Vishnu Garden, Janakpuri, Dwarka sector 3, Nehru Nagar, Prem Nagar Market Near the Tyagraj stadium, Karol Bagh, Inderpuri, Mansarovar Garden, Tank road and West Patel Nagar.
“Apart from the waterlogging, total five complaints of trees falling or parts of trees falling were received by the municipal corporation in Dwarka sector -1, Tughlakabad village, Delhi Gate, Paschim Vihar and Netaji Subhash Palace area,” the statement further read."As per the IMD’s report, thundershowers with moderate intensity to heavy intensity rain with gusty winds would occur over Delhi and adjoining areas. Commuters are advised to plan their journey accordingly," it tweeted. Generally cloudy sky, moderate rain or thundershowers are predicted in the city over the next three days.
The national Capital recorded a minimum temperature of 28.2 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal.
The IMD has predicted "enhanced rainfall activity" over northwest India for two-three days. The monsoon had covered the entire country on July 2, six days ahead of schedule. However, rains in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have remained subdued.
Meteorologists attribute the rain deficit in the north and northwest India to the formation of back-to-back low-pressure areas in the Bay of Bengal in July which kept the monsoon trough over central India for an unusually long period. Before Wednesday's showers, the Safdarjung Observatory had recorded 189.6 mm of rainfall against a normal of 201 mm since the start of the monsoon season on June 1.