Rain, thunderstorm lash Delhi-NCR again; disrupt road, air traffic

The weather department said that there are no chances of heatwave condition in the next five days.

Another spell of rain and thundershowers lashed the national capital on Monday evening bringing more relief from the scorching heat in Delhi and its neighbouring areas. However, the heavy rains for the second consecutive day have led to traffic snarls and flight cancellations.

Heavy rains along with gusty winds changed the weather in Delhi on Monday. (Ht Photo/S0anchit Khanna)

Flights from airlines including IndiGo, Vistara, SpiceJet and Air India have been delayed, diverted or even cancelled due to turbulent weather.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had in a tweet said rainfall, accompanied with strong gusty winds up to 50-60 kilometres per hour, are very likely to occur over Delhi and the national capital region during the night.

The weather department also predicted similar weather conditions over Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan and the western region of Uttar Pradesh during the next 8 to 10 hours. The MeT department said that a hail storm is very likely to occur in these areas.

The northwestern parts of the country, including the capital city, enjoyed some respite from the prolonged heatwave as the region received heavy rainfall under the influence of the season’s first moderate intensity thunderstorm.

The morning temperature in Delhi plunged 11 notches from 29 degrees Celsius to 18 degrees Celsius. However, it also affected road and air traffic during the morning rush hours, besides bringing down houses and trees, leaving at least eight people injured.

Several flights and trains were cancelled due to the heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. Waterlogging and power cuts were also reported from several areas, officials said.

The IMD had said that similar weather conditions will prevail over the next few days and “no heatwave condition is likely to develop in any part of the country during the next five days". The only exception, it said, was West Rajasthan, where isolated heatwave conditions are likely on May 26 and 27.

The summer months of March, April, May usually witness thunderstorms for 12 to 14 days, but this season has seen only four to five thunderstorms and that too, mostly dry.