After a duststorm with wind speed exceeding 100 kmph, accompanied with light rain, lashed Delhi and its surrounding areas on Sunday evening, residents of the national capital woke up to a clear morning on Monday. The meteorological department has, however, said it will get cloudy later in the day and the city may receive light rain or drizzle on Monday too.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 23 degrees Celsius, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said. The maximum temperature was likely to hover around 37 degrees Celsius.
At 8.30 am, the humidity recorded was 60 per cent.
Sunday’s maximum temperature settled at 40.8 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was 26.7 degrees Celsius.
Officials said two squalls — accompanied with light rain — whipped through the national capital on Sunday. One clocking 109 kmph hit the Safdarjung area at 4:44 pm and continued till 4:46 pm. The other squall gusting to 96 kmph battered the Palam area at 4:33 pm.
The air traffic and Metro service were disrupted on Sunday due to the strong winds. Power supply was also affected in many areas.
The strong winds knocked down nearly 200 trees in the city. Incidents of wall collapse were reported from Najafgarh, Transit Camp, Nehru Place, Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar and Raj Nagar in Palam, said a senior officer of the Delhi Fire Service.
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A man was crushed to death in a wall collapse, while a woman was killed when a tree uprooted and fell on her, the police said.
Traffic in many areas moved at a snail’s pace due to the reduced visibility after the storm and rain.
The inclement weather interrupted the launch of a 140 kWp rooftop solar plant at IP Extension attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Operations at the Delhi airport came to a halt due to the dust storm. At least 40 flights were diverted and more than 24 delayed, an official said.
Metro operations were affected at a number of stations on the Violet and Blue lines after trees fell on overhead electricity (OHE) wires.
The Northern Railways said the train movement was disrupted on the section between the Hazrat Nizamuddin and Palwal stations due to tree felling.
A few passenger and freight trains were held up for around 25 minutes because of the disruption. The Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express was also stopped near Sonepat due to uprooting of trees.
According to MeT department officials, the Safdarjung Observatory gauged 8.3 mm of rainfall. The Palam, Aya Nagar and Lodhi Road areas recorded 0.8, 6.4 and 2.1 mm of precipitation.