Rain lashes Delhi-NCR, cloudy weather to persist, says IMD
New Delhi: Rain lashed several parts of Delhi-NCR on Thursday, leaving several roads water logged and disrupted traffic movement, early in the morning. In fact, rains hit Delhi on Wednesday evening as well, so both the morning and evening commute was disrupted.
The India Meteorological Department had already predicted rains for Delhi-NCR for Thursday. In fact a yellow alert is in place for the whole day and the weather office said that light to moderate rains are possible. The sky would remain generally cloudy through the day, they added.
The maximum temperature in the city would be around 32 degrees Celsius, while the minimum would be 23 degrees Celsius, predicted IMD. Rainfall in Delhi is expected to continue till August 10. Some parts of the national capital might see extremely heavy rains during this period. Lightning and strong winds are expected in the city on Thursday.
Traffic movement impacted due to rains
On Wednesday, traffic was badly impacted in the national capital, due to rains. Several roads were submerged which led to slower than usual movement of traffic. According to a report in Times Now, congestion was reported from Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, ITO, Mathura Road, Lodhi Road, parts of Lutyens’ Delhi, Rohtak Road, the Shankar Road-Kirti Nagar stretch, Delhi-Jaipur Highway, Madhuban Chowk, Peeragarhi and Shaheen Bagh.
Apart from these stretches, traffic was also impacted in East Delhi. Areas like GT Road, Loni Road, Jhilmil, GTB Enclave and Dilshad Garden witnessed slow moving traffic due to water logging in several areas. Several parts of Central and South Delhi also reported water logging, following the heavy downpour.
Apart from flooded roads, the gallery of Safdarjung Hospital was inundated following the rains on Wednesday. There were also reports of at least 3 tree falls between 6 am to 3 pm.
Talking about the amount of rainfall the city witnessed, one must note that the Safdarjung observatory recorded 15.6 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm, while Lodhi Road received 38.7 mm, the highest among the city’s weather stations during the day. At Palam Observatory, rains recorded were 1.4 mm, while in Ayanagar it was 0.2 mm.
Despite the rainfall, the air quality in Delhi remained “satisfactory” The AQI recorded at 4 pm on Wednesday was 69, making it the 6th day in August with satisfactory air quality.