Traffic moves at snail pace in Delhi due to highest rainfall in decade

Delhities woke up to a pleasant weekend with the heavy rainfall keeping the temperature below normal levels. The minimum temperature recorded on Saturday was 24 degrees Celsius, three notches below the normal.

"Safdarjung observatory recorded 12.9 mm of rainfall while Palam observatory 143.6 mm till 8.30 am. The skies will be generally cloudy in the coming days. Heavy rains will continue to occur in some areas of the Capital and maximum temperature is expected to settle at 29 degrees Celsius," a MeT department official said.

While the mercury has fallen due to rains providing relief from sweltering heat, the humidity levels have shot up to 95 per cent. The minimum and maximum temperature recorded on Friday were 26.5 and 29.5 degree Celsius respectively.

TRAFFIC SNARLS

The downpour triggered traffic snarls at various intersections and busy roundabouts including ITO and Dhaula Kuan. Vehicles moved at a snail's pace on several roads such as Mahipalpur Chowk, Rangpuri U-turn near Radisson hotel, Vayusenabad, Azad Market Chowk, causing hardship to the commuters.

Also read: Thousands stranded in traffic jams across NCR due to heavy downpour

However, the roads connecting Delhi & Gurgaon witnessed long tailbacks over past two days due to severe waterlogging on NH-8. According to Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, highest rainfall of 144 mm has been recorded in a span of 24 hours during the last 10 years.

Vehicles moved at a snail's pace on several roads causing hardship to the commuters. "It usually takes 25 minutes to travel from Defence Colony to Dhaulakuan but today I have been stranded for over one and half hour," Shivam Verma a distressed commuter said. An official in the Central water commission said the possibility of Yamuna crossing the warning level was low and there was no reason to worry.

"The water level was recorded at 202.98 meters on Saturday. It had reached upto 203.8 around 7 pm on Friday," one of the officials said. According to Skymet Weather, these rains can be attributed to the monsoon trough which is running in close proximity of Delhi-NCR.

"A cyclonic circulation is also marked over Haryana and adjoining areas. Moreover, the Western Disturbance is also moving across Jammu and Kashmir. As we proceed further, Monsoon trough will be now oscillating towards north, while the circulation is now prevailing over Haryana and Delhi.

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