Unrelenting rain spells chaos in Delhi, IMD issues ‘red’ alert

Delhi woke up to grey skies, waterlogged roads and uprooted trees as overnight rain continued through Thursday morning, with the India Meteorological Department issuing a ‘red’ alert for the day.

Safdarjung, the capital’s base weather station, recorded 72.6 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours that ended at 8.30 am, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The Lodhi Road weather station received 80.2 mm of rainfall, Ridge 77.8 mm, Palam 63.0 mm and Ayanagar 57.4 mm during this period.

The IMD issued a ‘red’ alert for Delhi, warning of moderate to heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning during the day.

The minimum temperature in the city settled at 24.3 degrees Celsius, 3.6 notches below normal, the IMD said.

Hours of incessant rain spelled chaos on roads, uprooting trees and leaving several areas waterlogged.

Two trees were uprooted on Raja Dhir Singh Marg in southeast Delhi’s East of Kailash, disrupting traffic in the area, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officials said.

While one tree fell on the road near the ISKCON temple, the other was outside the National Heart Institute, they said.

Waterlogging was reported from several parts of the city, including Vikas Marg, areas in East Delhi, New Delhi railway station, Munirka, Sadar Bazar and Dwarka.

Traffic crawled on the Delhi-Noida Expressway due to the waterlogging. Several commuters and residents took to social media to share their ordeal.

Weather experts have attributed the persistent rain over the past two days to the seasonal monsoon trough shifting northwards from central India towards the Himalayan foothills.

They said Delhi is likely to continue receiving widespread rainfall until the system moves further north, after which the city is expected to witness drier spells.

Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was in the ‘satisfactory’ category with a reading of 61 at 9 am, according to Central Pollution Control Board data.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.