Overnight rains lead to waterlogging, traffic snarls in Delhi; IMD issues yellow alert

The IMD classifies rainfall as ‘light’ when it is up to 15.5mm; as ‘moderate’ when it is between 15.6 to 64.4mm and as ‘heavy’ when it is over 64.4mm in a 24-hour window

Overnight heavy rains in Delhi took the 24-hour rainfall total in the ‘heavy category’ at multiple locations,, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

In the 24 hours till 8:30am on Thursday, Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station had received 20.5mm of rainfall. (HT photo)

Severe waterlogging was seen in parts of the city from Wednesday evening, leading to long traffic snarls as people remained stuck in traffic for lengthy periods. Some snarls and waterlogging were witnessed on Thursday morning too.

In the 24 hours till 8:30am on Thursday, Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station had received 20.5mm of rainfall. In the same period, Najafgarh had recorded 105.5mm, Pusa 82mm, Ayanagar 73mm and Ridge 69.2mm. Other stations included Palam (59.8mm), Lodhi road (17.8mm), Janakpuri (20mm), Pragati Maidan (47.7mm) and Naraina 20.5mm. Across NCR, Gurugram had recorded 105.5mm and Noida 46mm, IMD said.

The IMD classifies rainfall as ‘light’ when it is up to 15.5mm; as ‘moderate’ when it is between 15.6 to 64.4mm and as ‘heavy’ when it is over 64.4mm in a 24-hour window.

The IMD has a yellow alert in place for the day, forecasting light to moderate showers to continue and overcast skies to persist. Meanwhile, no colour-coded alerts are in place from Friday onwards, with the rain intensity to reduce and only scattered very light to light rain is expected ahead, it said.

The monsoon covered Delhi and the rest of the country on June 29, this year. While this was two days late for Delhi, it was nine days early for the rest of the country. The onset saw 14mm in the 24 hours till 8:30am on June 30. However, monsoon showers had mostly been subdued until now.

With this spell, Delhi has now logged 38.7mm in monthly rainfall. Normally, Delhi sees 209.7mm in the entire month. Last year, 203.7mm was recorded in July.

Meanwhile, the rain saw Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) dip to 63 (satisfactory) at 9am, making it the 15th straight day of clean air.