Heavy rain on Sunday morning ensured that the Capital, which had a deficit rainfall this season, now has 14% surplus rainfall. The Met department said it was the heaviest spell of rain since the onset of the monsoon in Delhi on June 25.
The weather station at Safdarjung, which gives the official reading of the Capital, recorded 74.8 mm of overnight rainfall while weather stations at Lodhi Road and Ridge reported 81.2 mm and 86 mm respectively. Other parts of the city such as Palam and Ayanagar received much less rainfall at 16.9 mm and 12.2 mm respectively.
While the rain was a welcome relief, the main roads of the Capital started resembling waterways with children seen swimming at a parking lot in Connaught Place and on Vikas Marg. Reports of uprooted trees, wall collapses and waterlogging came in from various parts of the city. Social media was abuzz with people sharing photos of water entering their homes and of inundated streets. Traders in Connauaght Place shared videos of water entering their shops and damaging property and hit out at the NDMC for not preparing for the monsoon by cleaning drains.
Waterlogging was reported in Kailash Colony, Greater Kailash, Sirifort Auditorium, Hari Nagar, ISKCON temple in Punjabi Bagh, Rajouri Garden market, Janakpuri West metro station, Tagore Garden, Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, Taimur Nagar, Maharani Bagh, New Friends Colony, Jamia Nagar, Abul Fazal Enclave, Okhla Mandi and Nizamudin West in south Delhi.
Trees fell in east of Kailash, Lajpat Nagar, Kalkaji, Tilak Nagar, at the cyber crime office in Dwarka, at DDA flats in Kalkaji, Alaknanda and Vasant Kunj in south Delhi.
Buildings collapse
In east Delhi, two buildings reportedly collapsed — one each in Laxmi Nagar and Gandhi Nagar. Waterlogging was reported at only two places by the East body — at Mayur Vihar Phase 1 and at the Meetnagar Main Road. Apart from this, trees reportedly fell near a school in Mayur Vihar Phase 1, at Chitra Vihar, Kalyan puri, Yamuna Vihar and at New Usmanpur. In north Delhi, about 10 instances of buildings collapsing partially or dangerous buildings were identified. These included two houses in Turkman Gate market, Dharmapura Gareeb Masjid, the dome of a masjid in Hauz Qazi, two houses in Chandni Chowk, one in Paharganj, one in Keshavpuram and two more in Sultanpuri. Apart from 36 instance of waterlogging identified in different parts of north Delhi and 14 instance of trees falling, in Pitampura, a tree was reported to have fallen on a car. During the day, the city received 1.8 mm of rainfall between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. The maximum temperature settled at 35.2 degrees Celsius, which was normal for the season. The minimum temperature settled at 23.4 degrees Celsius, which was four degrees below normal for the season. The forecast for July 20 reads “generally cloudy sky with light rain/thundershowers.” The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to remain between 35 and 26 degrees respectively. Light rainfall is expected in the region till July 25 with generally cloudy sky and gusty winds.
