Widespread spell of rain brings Delhi some relief from sticky heat

The national capital's Safdarjung weather station, which provides representative data for the entire city, recorded 19.6mm of rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Saturday, IMD said.

Heavy rain lashed Delhi and its adjoining areas on Saturday, providing residents much needed relief from the oppressive heat and humidity, but also led to vehicular congestion and waterlogging across the Capital.

A woman with her ward amid monsoon rains in New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI)

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi’s Safdarjung weather station, which provides representative data for the entire city, recorded 19.6mm of rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Saturday. The Lodhi Road observatory recorded 18.4mm of rainfall, Ridge recorded 25.3mm of rainfall, Palam recorded 8.7mm and the Aya Nagar weather station recorded 15.8mm of rainfall during this period.

“Moderate to heavy rain was recorded across the national capital and parts of NCR on Saturday. After monsoon hit the city, there was no widespread rain. Some parts received a good spell but most parts of the city did not. Light, isolated rainfall is likely to continue on Sunday,” said a Met official.

The rain also brought down the temperature. Safdarjung station recorded a maximum temperature of 36.5 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 28.3 degrees Celsius. In some parts of the city such as Lodhi Road, the minimum temperature dropped to 26.4 degrees Celsius. The maximum on Friday was 38.5 degrees Celsius.

The rain also led to traffic jams in several areas such as Dhaula Kuan, Pankha Road, Janakpuri and ITO. At around 5.30pm, Delhi traffic police advised people to avoid the Dhaula Kuan flyover as traffic was affected on Ring Road at Dhaula Kuan flyover because of waterlogging. An hour later, police issued a similar advisory for people to avoid Mehrauli Badarpur(MB) road near Hauz Rani Forest Park because of waterlogging on one carriageway.

“We had to go to Dwarka in the evening. We were stuck in traffic on Pankha road. We were told that there was a massive traffic jam in Janakpuri. It is the same story every year–traffic is hit and roads are water logged after just a few hours of rain,” a media professional, who was stuck near Pankha road, said.

The official monsoon report issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said that their zonal offices received waterlogging related complaints from areas in Uttam Nagar and Malviya Nagar.

Pankaj Kudiya, another commuter, said commuters faced delays while travelling from Tahirpur towards GTB Hospital due to a fallen tree. The MCD said it has received reports of trees being damaged or falling from at least eight areas–Jangpura extension, Defence colony, Neb Sarai, Saket, Greater Kailash 2, Malviya Nagar in south Delhi, Kirti Nagar in East Delhi and Paharganj in central Delhi.

Meanwhile, with Saturday’s rain, the cumulative rainfall deficit for the season fell to 25%. IMD data showed that currently, northwest Delhi has excess rainfall of 59%, north Delhi has an excess of 10% and central Delhi has an excess of 1%. Meanwhile, other districts continued to record a deficit. The southwest district currently has a 54% deficit, west has a 57% deficit, south Delhi has a 30% deficit and northeast district has a 41% deficit.

Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate) at Skymet Weather Services, a private forecaster, said, “Monsoon trough is in transition phase from central India to the foothills. Due to this, rainfall has occurred in many parts of Delhi-NCR, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh. Rain is likely to decrease from Sunday.”