Nine people lost their lives and over 36 were hurt when Delhi and the NCR region were swept by the strongest storm in eight years with winds blowing at a fierce speed of over 114 kmph, on Friday. Hitting the national Capital around 5 pm, the sudden dust storm was followed by heavy rain which drastically brought down temperatures by 15 degrees Celsius at Palam and by 5 degrees in the city.
Although it was a much needed respite from the sizzling heat, scores of city dwellers were stuck during the evening peak hours as Metro services were disrupted and traffic thrown out of gear. The violent storms resulted in nine people losing their lives and over three dozen being critically injured due to trees, poles and lamp-posts toppling on them.
Friday’s phenomenal weather condition was recorded as the fiercest since 2006 and the second strongest ever since records have been maintained by the Met Department at Palam Airport (1995 onwards). Not just this, scientists have found Friday’s storm to be a ‘mysterious’ one.
The severe dust storm occurred at 4:58 pm with winds blowing at 92 kmph from the North-West Direction. The situation was even worse in the Palam area as winds blew at a record speed of 114.8 kmph. The storm was so violent that it damaged five aircraft at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.Besides, air traffic came to a complete standstill with 24 flights being diverted to nearby airports.
The unusual stormy conditions also affected the Delhi Metro services causing panic and inconvenience to thousands of passengers. Train operations were suspended for almost an hour on two of its busiest lines — Yellow (Huda City Centre to Jahangirpuri) and Blue (Vaishali/Noida City Centre to Dwarka Sector 21) due to power failure. Passengers tweeted that they were asked to de-board the trains at some stations after technical faults caused by the storm hit the services hard on both these lines, leaving hundreds stranded.
“The dust storm occurred due to a gigantic cumulonimbus (CB) cloud moving from the airport side towards Central Delhi. The CB cloud was created due to the cyclonic circulation over North Rajasthan. However, this was a mysterious kind of a storm, particularly in Palam, as there was no rain before, during or after the storm which otherwise is the general phenomenon,” said Dr RK Jenamani, Director (IC), IGI Met office. The strongest spell of squall occurred on June 6 in 2006 when the wind reached to a record 138 kmph.
While the minimum temperature on Friday was also recorded two notches above normal settling at 29.1 degree Celsius, the squall gave an instant relief from the sweltering heat. In the national Capital, the temperature before the storm and rains was recorded at 40.2 degree Celsius, but after they subsided the temperatures plummeted to 35.2 degree Celsius. The drop in mercury was more drastic in Palam with the temperature recorded at 45.8 degree Celsius before the activity and 30.4 degree Celsius after it. Humidity levels oscillated from 71 to 22 per cent.
Wreaking Havoc
· The strongest dust storm in eight years with winds blowing at a fierce speed of over 114 kmph
· The violent storm resulted in nine people losing their lives and over 36 being critically injured due to trees, poles and lamp-posts toppling over them
· Friday’s phenomenal weather was recorded as the fiercest since 2006 and the second strongest ever since records have been maintained by the Met Department at Palam Airport (1995 onwards)
· Five planes were damaged at IGIA and traffic thrown out of gear
· Besides, air traffic came to a complete standstill with 24 flights being diverted to nearby airports
· Metro services were disrupted causing panic and inconvenience to thousands of passengers. Train operations were suspended for almost an hour in two of its busiest lines — Yellow (Huda City Centre to Jahangirpuri) and Blue (Vaishali/Noida City Centre to Dwarka Sector 21) due to power failure