Delhi, Noida, Gurugram on orange alert, Ghaziabad under yellow as NCR continues to receive rain

IMD issued an orange alert for Delhi, Noida and Gurugram on Monday, predicting thunderstorms with gusty winds and moderate to heavy rain.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued an orange alert for Delhi as the weather remained pleasant with cloudy skies, gusty winds and a prediction for rainfall with thunderstorms.

Delhi braces for more rainfall on Monday afternoon as IMD issues an orange alert for rain and thunderstorms. (Amit Sharma/ANI)

The orange alert was in place across all districts of Delhi and was valid up to 5:45 pm, according to the nowcast on IMD website.

The city was under yellow alert earlier on Monday for thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and moderate to heavy rain. Similar weather conditions were seen over Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, Noida and Haryana's Faridabad and Gurugram also on Monday afternoon.

While Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram were also under an orange alert, a yellow warning was issued for Ghaziabad by the IMD.

Meanwhile, visuals from ANI showed Yamuna river in Delhi continued to flow above its danger mark at Loha Pul this morning.

IMD has also issued an orange alert for Gurugram and Faridabad for tomorrow with no warning for Delhi as on the district wise warning on its website dated September 1.

Delhi-NCR experienced a relatively cool August as the area witnessed frequent spells of rain accompanied with overcast skies and thunderstorms.

The monthly rainfall excess was recorded at 400.1mm, which 72% over the monthly long-period average (LPA) of 233.1mm. It was earlier reported by HT that August could be the coolest for the city in 13 years.

A similar wet spell is predicted for September too, the IMD said earlier. As per past trends, September typically receives 123.5mm of rainfall, but noted a big exception last year with 200mm of rain.

An excess this year is likely to push Delhi’s annual rainfall total beyond the 1,000mm mark.

Red alerts to continue in northern India

Northern India will also be experiencing heavy rain, at least till September 5, as IMD issued red and orange alerts for multiple districts across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Rupnagar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Sas Nagar, and Patiala in Punjab, Uttarkashi, Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Udham Singh Nagar, Champawat, Nainital and Bageshwar in Uttarakhand and Kangra, Una, Bilaaspur, Solan, Shimla, and Sirmaur in Himachal have been placed under a red alert for very heavy rainfall with thunderstorms, overcast skies and gusty winds.