The rain came down heavy and steady for several hours on Monday night and Tuesday morning with the Capital receiving a total of 82.7 mm of rainfall by 5.30 p.m., making it the wettest day of the season so far. The showers also brought along the familiar problems of water-logging and traffic jams across the city.
The temperatures also dipped significantly, recording a maximum of 29.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal for this time of the year, and a minimum of 24.8 degrees Celsius, one degree below normal. Humidity levels peaked to 100 per cent and a minimum of 88 per cent.
“This August has fared better than the previous season. Delhi, of course, will never get as much rain as Mumbai or Kolkata, considering its geographical position, but it is has been blessed with an adequate amount of rainfall for a city falling within the North-Western region,” said Metrological Department’s weather scientist S.C. Bhan.
The Capital was denied its fair share of the northwest monsoon this past week and citizens had to put up with unbearably humid, almost oppressive weather this weekend.
Luckily, the rain gods were kinder on Monday. Things only got better on Tuesday morning as the night rain continued well into the morning, with temperature dipping and the sky remaining grey all day.
Water-logging was reported in areas like Civil Lines, Karol Bagh, Najafgarh, Narela, Rohini, Sadar Paharganj, Green Park and Malviya Nagar, among others. Reports about fallen trees were received from Dwarka Sector 24, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, Saket, Malvia Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Najafgarh and Greater Kailash.
There were reports of wall collapse in areas like Paharganj and Kamala Nagar.
Traffic jams were reported from major intersections like ITO, Laxmi Nagar, Ring Road and Mathura Road in the morning. There were also major hold-ups on main roads, with several traffic diversions being made. Traffic was also affected on Ring Road due to water-logging at the end of Bhishma Pitamah Marg flyover and Pragati Vihar Hostel.
By evening, water-logging had led to more traffic jams in roads around Pitampura, Kamla Nagar, Keshav Puram and Ashok Vihar. There were more jams reported from roads leading towards Rithla Metro station from Kohat Enclave and Badarpur-Mehrauli road.
The weatherman has forecast more rain in the days to come.
“Wednesday will have an overcast sky and there will be rain, which will vary from heavy to very heavy in some areas,” said a duty officer. He said the minimum and maximum temperatures will oscillate from a maximum of 32 degrees to a minimum of 25 throughout the week, but added that the temperature could dip further if there was more rain.
Barring this week, the weatherman said steady rainfall throughout the remaining monsoon was not an absolute certainty. “There will be more rain, at least in the immediate few days, later on we cannot say,” said Dr. Bhan. However, Wednesday promises to be a repeat of Tuesday.
“The temperature might be a maximum of 30 degrees Celsius, but with more rain it could be just 27 degrees. The minimum will be 24 degrees.”
