NEW DELHI: After weeks of sweltering heat, rain lashed the capital on Tuesday afternoon, bringing respite to residents. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department has issued a ‘red’ alert for rain and strong winds across the city.
Similar weather conditions are likely on July 8, with light thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds expected in the afternoon. Earlier, the IMD had issued an ‘orange’ alert, warning of moderate rain at most places along with thunderstorms, lightning, but later upgraded it to ‘red’ for the city.
The weather department had forecast moderate rain at many places and heavy rain at isolated places, accompanied by moderate thunderstorms and lightning, with wind speeds reaching up to 70 km/h.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature settled at around 37.2 degrees Celsius. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 30 degrees Celsius -- the highest since July 2, 2024, when the mercury settled at a low of 30.7 degrees Celsius.
The IMD said the “feels like” temperature at 8.30 am was 44.7 degrees Celsius as relative humidity stood at 79%, making for uncomfortable weather.
The Lodhi Road weather station recorded a minimum temperature of 30.4 degrees Celsius, Palam 28.3 degrees Celsius, Ayanagar 28.6 degrees Celsius and the Ridge 24.9 degrees Celsius.
As heavy rain inundated many parts of the city, people witnessed waterlogging in many areas of Delhi NCR, like Noida and Gurugram.
A large tree fell onto a moving Mercedes and another passing car on a busy road in southeast Delhi’s East of Kailash on Tuesday afternoon. However, no injuries were reported, officials said. The Delhi Fire Services personnel said, “Three people were trapped inside a moving car after the tree crashed onto the road. All of them were safely rescued, and no one was injured”. They stressed the need for regular pruning and periodic health assessment of trees in the area.
The fallen tree temporarily disrupted traffic on Raja Dhir Singh Marg before clearance operations were launched.
Officials suspect that the tree was uprooted by the strong winds and rain that lashed parts of the national capital during the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Southwest Monsoon advanced further into parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana on Tuesday.