Chaos after short, intense rain in Delhi

The city recorded 15.2 mm of rainfall, with more rain expected on Sunday. The weather department classified the rainfall as moderate.

New Delhi: Intense rain lashed the Capital on Saturday noon and gusty wind, blowing at a speed of 30-50km/hr, uprooted at least 30 trees and felled large branches, thereby choking several arterial roads.

New Delhi: People move around a fallen tree after heavy rainfall at the IP Extension area, in New Delhi, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. (PTI Photo) (PTI09_23_2023_000134B) (PTI)

Though the rain lasted only for a brief period, waterlogging was reported from a few pockets of the city.

The Safdarjung observatory recorded 15.2 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Saturday. Palam recorded a rainfall of 14 mm during the same duration.

According to IMD’s forecast, cloudy skies will prevail on Sunday. “Partly cloudy sky will prevail with the possibility of very light rain and thundershowers,” said IMD. The maximum and minimum temperatures on Sunday are expected to hover around 36°C and 25°C degrees respectively.

Officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) said that nearly 25 roads across the city were affected due to uprooted trees or broken branches.

“Most of the trees were removed to the side of the road by early evening to clear way for traffic. However, these will be picked up on tractors over the night. We got maximum complaints of tree felling on Saturday, while waterlogging was reported only from a few places,” said a PWD official.

Along the arterial stretches managed by PWD, waterlogging was reported from Seemapuri, Seelampur, Kashmere Gate, Wazirabad Road, a market in Mayur Vihar phase 3 and Babarpur along Loni Road. Officials said that water was drained from all these areas within an hour, while it took about two hours on Loni Road and also in Seemapuri.

In areas managed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Kanjhawala Road, which has often seen flooding this year, was waterlogged. MCD officials said that some local roads were also waterlogged, but water was pumped out in about two hours.

The Purana Quila road was temporarily waterlogged and was cleared by NDMC within an hour. Officials said that roads were also cleared of felled trees at three locations in New Delhi area and one in Bengali Market.

The traffic police used its social media handles to post information regarding at least two incidents of waterlogging and tree felling in the city.

At 2.39 pm, the traffic police tweeted, “Traffic is affected on Outer Ring Road in the carriageway from Bhairon Mandir towards Savitri flyover due to uprooting of a tree near Paras flyover. Kindly avoid the stretch.”

The second tweet showing waterlogging on a road read, “Traffic is affected on Mathura Road in the carriageway from Ashram towards Badarpur due to waterlogging near Aali village.”

Earlier in the day, the Delhi Traffic Police also issued advisories on social media regarding traffic restrictions and diversions owing to the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections counting and a Tazia procession for Chehlum that started from Pahari Bhojla in north Delhi to the Karbala in Jor Bagh in south Delhi.

The IMD’s Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 27°C on Saturday, three degrees above normal. The maximum temperature, meanwhile, stayed at 35.1°C, one degree above normal. On Friday, the maximum and minimum temperatures stood at 36.8 °C and 26.5 °C respectively.

The weather department classifies rainfall between ‘trace’ and 2.4 mm as ‘very light rainfall’, as ‘light rainfall’ when it is between 2.5 mm and 15.5 mm, as ‘moderate’ rainfall when it is between 15.6 mm and 64.4 mm and as ‘heavy’ when it is over 64.5 mm in a single day.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was reported at 110 in the ‘moderate’ category by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)’s 4 pm index. On Friday, the AQI stood at 103 in the same category. CPCB classifies an AQI of 50 or lower as ‘good’, between 51 and 100 as ‘satisfactory’, between 101 and 200 as ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 as ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 as ‘very poor’ and over 400 as ‘severe.