Days of relief ahead as rainfall expected through the week

NEW DELHI: With light showers in parts of the national capital, citizens saw a pleasant Friday.  However, the rain added to the woes for the public as streets were clogged with waterlogging and traffic snarls at several stretches late afternoon. 

The city is likely to get light showers till July 5 while an ‘Orange’ alert has been issued for July 6 by the state weather department. The impact of triple digit rain, the previous day kept the temperature down with both the maximum and minimum temperatures settling several notches below normal. Delhi saw 116.6 mm rain on Thursday, the first and the heaviest spell of the monsoon season.

On Friday, Safdarjung received 1.9 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm. While the 24-hourly rain (from 8.30 am on Thursday to 8.30 am on Friday) was 117.2 mm. The maximum temperature settled at 31.5 degrees C, five degrees below normal for this time of the year while minimum settled at 23 degrees C, also five notches below normal.

On Thursday, the maximum temperature dropped to 29.4 degrees C, which is seven notches below normal and the lowest maximum seen in June in over a decade, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).  Other weather stations including Lodhi Road received 7.6 mm rain, Ridge 7.6 mm, Ayanagar 14.8 mm, Gurgaon 3 mm, Pitampura 23 mm and SPS Mayur Vihar – 11 mm.

“Light rain is expected in parts of the city till July 5 while an ‘Orange’ alert has been issued for July 6 as moderate to heavy rain are expected across the city. The monsoon trough is close to Delhi-NCR and hence monsoon showers are likely over next week as well,” said a senior IMD official. Several stretches including Ring Road, ITO, IIT flyover and near AIIMS were briefly flooded due to the showers.