Delhi records wettest May as overnight storm triggers waterlogging, flight disruptions

At 165 mm, the previous record was in 2008.

This comes after Delhi, following heavy rain in the early hours of Sunday, registered the highest 24-hour rainfall this month — 81.44 mm — at Safdarjung.

This is the second-highest ever in May, as per the IMD data. In 2021, 119.3 mm of rainfall was registered in a single day, making it the highest-ever rainfall received in 24 hours in May.

Accompanied by an intense thunderstorm, Sunday’s rain inundated roads, disrupted traffic, and led to flight delays at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

While the weather station at Lodhi Road recorded 69.6 mm of rain, Aya Nagar registered 37 mm, Palam 68.5 mm, and Ridge 69.1 mm, according to the Met department.

Trees uprooted after strong winds and rainfall in New Delhi on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Hours before the storm, the IMD had sounded a red alert around 10.30 pm Saturday. Warning of strong winds (60-100 kmph), it issued a public advisory asking people to remain indoors and not take shelter under trees or metal structures during the storm. Overnight gusts reached speeds of up to 82 km/h.

Temperatures across the city plummeted by 8 to 10 degrees Celsius in under 90 minutes. Safdarjung saw the temperature drop from 31°C to 21°C between 1.15 am and 2.30 am. A similar drop in temperature was reported across other stations, including Palam and Lodhi Road.

Umashankar Das, senior scientist at the National Weather Forecasting Centre, IMD, explained the reason behind the heavy downpour.

“Easterlies/ southeasterlies, moisture-laden winds from the Bay of Bengal, and Southwesterlies from the Arabian Sea in lower tropospheric levels towards Northwest India, and their interaction with mid-level dry westerlies results in such types of intense thunderstorm activities over the region. These processes are enhanced due to the presence of weather systems,” Das said.

Vehicles partially submerged following at the Delhi Cantt underpass. (Photo: PTI)

As per the official, the different weather systems included:

– A western disturbance that lay as an upper air cyclonic circulation over north Punjab and adjoining Jammu and Kashmir in the lower tropospheric levels with a trough aloft at middle and upper tropospheric westerlies.

– An upper air cyclonic circulation over northwest Uttar Pradesh and adjoining north Haryana in the lower tropospheric levels at 1.5 km above mean sea level.

– An upper air cyclonic circulation over West Rajasthan and the neighbourhood in the lower tropospheric levels.

Delhi has witnessed extreme weather this month: a soaring heat index, heavy rain, and hailstorms. At least 12 people have died in rain-related incidents in Delhi-NCR, as per officials.