Intense spell of rain leads to evening chaos in Delhi

Light to moderate rain is also likely in Delhi in the early hours of Saturday, with rain intensity reducing from Sunday once again, says IMD

The Capital witnessed a brief but intense spell of rain on Friday evening, leading to waterlogging in some areas and traffic jams in several parts of south Delhi.

Commuters out during a heavy rain spell, at ITO in New Delhi on Friday. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Light to moderate rain is also likely in Delhi in the early hours of Saturday, with rain intensity reducing from Sunday once again. The variation India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, was due to the monsoon trough coming closer to the Capital before moving away again.

On Friday, between 8.30am and 5.30pm, only the Mayur Vihar (0.5mm) station recorded rain. But, between 5.30pm and 8.30pm, Safdarjung, the base weather station, received 49.3mm of rain — about 20% of the average precipitation recorded over the month of August. In the same three-hour period, Pusa recorded 19mm, Delhi University 8mm and Palam 1.8mm of rain.

The evening showers, coinciding with peak hour traffic, led to jams across south Delhi, with the Delhi Traffic Police issuing warnings on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for commuters.

Special commissioner of police (traffic) SS Yadav said that the stretch near IIT-Delhi on the Ring Road was impacted due to waterlogging for at least half-an-hour.

Other routes that witnessed traffic snarls included Mehrauli -Badarpur road, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Setu, Panchsheel Road, and Shastri Park to Khajuri.

Delhi received light to moderate showers late Thursday night and in the early hours of Friday. In a 24-hour period till 8.30am on Friday, Safdarjung recorded 2.1mm of rainfall, Palam received 27mm, Ayanagar 27.2mm, Jafarpur 5.5mm, Najafgarh 1mm and Ridge 4.2mm.

So far in August, Delhi has already recorded 64.6mm of rainfall. The long-period average for the month is 233.1mm.

IMD said that the intensity of rains will decline over the next week. “We can expect a spell of light to moderate rain early on Saturday. Towards Saturday night, the trough will start shifting north again... Only drizzling is expected in isolated parts of Delhi on Sunday and no rain between Monday and Wednesday,” Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD, said.

The maximum temperature on Friday was recorded at 34.4 degrees Celsius (°C), and the minimum at 26.5°C.