Woke to a sunny morning with attendant hot and humid weather, Delhi’ite had pleasant surprise on Monday afternoon when the city received significant rainfall.
The much-awaited rain ensured a significant drop in the temperature.
Earlier, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted moderate rainfall for Monday. It again predicted moderate rainfall for Tuesday and issued a yellow.
Thanks to the downpour, the temperature dropped by 1.5 points. The IMD recorded the maximum temperature at 36.4 Celsius and the minimum temperature at 29.2 degrees Celsius.
The Meteorological Department recorded 31.1 mm rainfall. With 48.5 mm of rainfall, Pitampura recorded the highest amount of rain while the Delhi University area recorded 39.5 mm.
Along with the sharp drop in mercury, the rain brought back severe waterlogging and traffic congestion adding to the woes of the commuters as well as the residents in several parts of Delhi.
Following the rain, the Delhi Traffic Police sounded several traffic alerts on its social media handle. In a post on X, it stated that the traffic was affected on GTK Road in the carriageway from Azadpur towards Mubarak Chowk and vice versa due to waterlogging on the road.
Another post mentioned that traffic was affected on the carriageways of New Rohtak Road due to waterlogging in the Anand Parbat area.
Areas falling on the outskirts of the city like Najafgarh also faced waterlogging problems.
In June last, Delhi witnessed 228 mm of rainfall, which broke the record of 88 years of rainfall in 24 hours. This resulted in severe waterlogging at prime locations in Lutyens Delhi as well as the outskirts of Central Delhi.
Last year, during monsoon season, several low-lying areas in the Yamuna floodplains also recorded severe flooding. The flood water even reached the premises of the Red Fort and the Outer Ring Road area resulting in the displacement of several households living around these areas.