Dust storm followed by rain hit the national Capital and its surrounding areas on Saturday that had been reeling under scorching heat for a few days. The dust storm with winds gusting up to 70 kmph brought hardship to commuters with services on the Red line and Blue line of the Delhi Metro being hit briefly, officials said.
Delhi plunged into premature darkness. There were reports of power blackout in some parts of the Delhi-NCR region causing inconvenience to residents. Reports of rain came from other parts of India, including Punjab, Haryana and some parts of Uttar Pradesh, which had been sweating it out in sweltering conditions. Two persons were killed in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra’s Thane district on Saturday.
Thirty-five flights to Delhi were diverted to nearby airports and operations remained paralysed for almost an hourdue to dust storm, accompanied by strong gusty winds, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said. Trees were uprooted in many parts of Delhi-NCR due to strong gushing winds. However, there was no report of damage to property or casualty of any form. People travelling on metro said they faced problem.
“Due to sudden dust storm and rain around 5 pm, there were a few cases of track circuit signalling drop reported on line 1 (Red line) and line 3 (Blue line) and external object striking overhead electrification near Janakpuri East,” a senior DMRC official said.
“This had no major impact on overall services, except minor regulation of trains on affected stretches. Trains on all lines are running normal otherwise,” he said. Red line connects Dilshad Garden in east Delhi and Rithala in the western part of the city. Blue line spans from Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida City Centre.
Both are two of the longests and busiest routes on the metro network.
Operations at the IGI Airport were hit owing to the bad weather. A total of 27 flights were diverted in Delhi due to rain and dust storm between 5 pm and 6 pm. However, the operations have been restored back to normal at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The weatherman predicted rains in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh on Sunday.
In Maharashtra’s Thane district, fisherman Steni Admani (66) was struck by lightning at around 6 am. He died on the spot, said Shivaji Patil, chief of the District Disaster Control Cell.
Six others, who were out in the open at that time, were also injured due to the lightning strike and have been admitted to a local hospital.
A woman, who was riding pillion on a two-wheeler died after the vehicle rammed into a truck on the GB Road. An official said heavy rains apparently led to the accident.
Heavy rains pounded Mumbai, leading to a slight delay in the running of suburban trains.
The Indian Meteorological Department declared the onset of the monsoon over Mumbai, the adjoining Thane-Konkan areas, Ahmednagar, Parbhani and other parts of Maharashtra.
“Heavy to very heavy rainfall was recorded in the suburbs till 8.30 am on Saturday,” IMD Deputy Director K S Hosalikar said.
Trains on the suburban section of the Central Railway (CR) were running late due to the showers, an official said, adding that there were no cancellations. Two flights had to be diverted due to the bad weather.
Over the years, heavy monsoon rains have paralysed Mumbai, flooding streets and disrupting land, air and road traffic.