On season’s rainiest day, Delhi drowns

Wednesday morning brought heavy showers, with the gauges recording 63.1 mm of rain, all of it between 8.30 am and 12 noon, making it the rainiest day of the season so far.

Wednesday morning brought heavy showers, with the gauges recording 63.1 mm of rain, all of it between 8.30 am and 12 noon, making it the rainiest day of the season so far.

A waterlogged stretch at the AIIMS crossing. Over 400 reports of jams were received from different parts of the city due to waterlogging. (Ravi Choudhary/HT Photo)

The showers brought down temperatures but raised tempers as waterlogging made the Wednesday morning commute an arduous task. The maximum temperature was 30.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal.

The minimum was 26 degrees Celsius, a degree below normal.

According to Met department officials, Thursday is expected to see moderate rain. The temperature will be between 31 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius.

The monsoon has slowed down a little and Delhi has a 14% rain deficit. While rain received was surplus till the second week of August, it became deficient after 10 days without rain after that.

The city has received 452.5 mm of rain against the 526 mm it was supposed to receive by the end of the month.

Monsoon rains, however, are still in the normal range, which is between a 19% excess and 19% rain deficit. 2015 and 2014 saw deficient rains.

According to the Met officials, September is expected to bring good rains to the city and the northwestern region.

“Delhi will see more rain in the coming month and the deficit is expected to be met by the time monsoon ends in late September or early October,” said a Met official. Monsoon reached the city on July 7 this year, nine days behind schedule.

In the city, east, northeast and northwest have seen deficient rains, with the shortage in east Delhi touching 70%.

In the past decade, the two years that saw the heaviest rain were 2010 and 2013. In 2010, which was the wettest year after 1978, July and August saw around 670 mm of rain. In 2013, July and August saw 662 mm of rain.