Moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds pummelled Delhi on Wednesday, forcing diversion of at least seven flights and paralysing road traffic in the city. Strong winds uprooted trees and snapped power and internet cables in several areas, throwing parts of the national capital into chaos.
The 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. 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. Rainfall recorded below 15 mm is considered light, between 15 and 64.5 mm is moderate, between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm is heavy, between 115.6 and 204.4 is very heavy. Anything above 204.4 mm is considered extremely heavy rainfall.
People shared pictures and videos of rainwater gushing into residential areas and vehicles wading through waterlogged roads. At least seven flights were diverted and 40 services delayed at the Delhi airport, sources said.
Vistara said on Twitter that its two Mumbai-Delhi flights were diverted to other cities — one to Jaipur and another to Indore — due to heavy rains in Delhi. The Delhi Traffic Police said vehicle movement remained affected on New Rohtak road, Najafgarh Phirni road, Rangpuri Chowk, Mahipalpur Chowk, from Naraina to Moti Bagh, AIIMS to IIT-Delhi, Dhaula Kuan to Gurgaon, INA to AIIMS, IIT to Adhchini, Moochand Underpass and MB road near Vayusenabad.
Alerting commuters, the Delhi Traffic Police tweeted, “Traffic is affected on NH8 in both the carriageways from Dhaula Kuan towards Gurgaon and vice-versa due to waterlogging near GGR/PGR. Kindly avoid the stretch.”
“Traffic is affected on Najafgarh Road near Tooda Mandi, on Ring Road in both the carriageway from Naraina to Moti Bagh and vice-versa due to waterlogging under Dhaula Kuan flyover. “Traffic is affected at Mahipalpur Chowk, on Rangpuri Chowk and on Najafgarh Phirni road due to waterlogging near Dhansa Stand and Bahadurgarh stand,” it said in a series of tweets.
Kindly avoid the following routes due to waterlogging and Vehicle breakdown in South District-1)Aurbindo stretch from INA to AIIMS2) Moochand Underpass on Ring Road3) Aurbindo marg from IIT to Adhchini4) MB road near Vayusenabad.— Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) July 20, 2022
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said it received complaints of waterlogging in Satya Niketan, Vishnu Garden, Janakpuri, Dwarka sector 3, Nehru Nagar, Prem Nagar Market near Thyagraj Stadium, Karol Bagh, Inderpuri, Mansarovar Garden, Tank road and West Patel Nagar. Heavy rain and gusty winds uprooted trees in Dwarka Sector -1, Tughlakabad village, Delhi Gate, Paschim Vihar and Netaji Subhash Place. Generally cloudy sky, moderate rain or thundershowers are predicted in the city over the next three days.
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 had 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.
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