New Delhi: The national capital witnessed intermittent to heavy rain Monday morning, with the minimum temperature plunging five notches below average for this time of the year to 23.5 degrees Celsius.
The Met department forecast rain for the next 24 hours to Tuesday morning.
Commuters faced traffic snarls in parts of the city as major roads got waterlogged on account of poor drainage.
With traffic signals failing and several streets turning near rivulets, traffic was slowed to a crawl at many places.
Slow traffic movement was witnessed at Subroto Park and Panchsheel Park in south Delhi and Anand Parbat in north Delhi as also along the Outer Ring Road, which connects several key areas.
An officer of the Delhi traffic police helpline said: “We have received complaints of clogged drains at Subroto Park, Panchsheel Park, Vasant Kunj, Anand Parbat and Outer Ring Road.”
Commuters travelling from Delhi to the satellite towns of Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon in Haryana faced a harrowing time, being stuck for long in traffic.
“It took me half-an-hour more than the usual time. Traffic is painfully slow. Even a little rain means traffic woes for us,” said Kumar Biswas, a software professional who was on his way from Gurgaon to Delhi.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city received 58.5 mm of rain from 8.30 p.m. Sunday to 8.30 a.m. Monday.
“The sky will remain cloudy, with rain and thundershowers at some parts of the city,” an IMD official said.
Maximum and minimum temperatures will stay around 34 and 23 degrees Celsius, the IMD official added.
Humidity at 8.30 a.m. Saturday stood at 81 percent.
The Indira Gandhi Airport (IGI) airport also faced flooding Sunday because of continuous rain, forcing passengers to wade through knee-deep water.
“We have taken additional measures to ensure that there is no flooding around the baggage belt area like yesterday (Sunday),” a Delhi International Airport Limited spokesperson told IANS.
The monsoon this year had set over Kerala on schedule June 1, and advanced fast, covering the southern, eastern and central states within two weeks.
The monsoon reached Delhi Sunday, a fortnight ahead of schedule, and also covered the entire country.
Sunday’s maximum temperature dipped eight notches below average at 31.5 degrees Celsius, while the minimum settled four notches below average at 23.7 degrees Celsius.
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