Highest one-day rainfall in 88 years
7 dead, many injured; Traffic severely dislocated as thoroughfares flooded
In northeast Delhi’s New Usmanpur area, two kids died after they drowned in a pool of rainwater
3 labourers were trapped in Vasant Vihar area in mud-slush at an under-construction site. A massive operation was on to get the bodies out
At AIIMS, dozens of surgeries stalled and emergency admissions affected after operation theatres got inundated
Several localities experienced extended power cuts due to technical faults and precautionary shutdowns in waterlogged areas
Safdarjung weather station clocked record downpour — more than three times the rainfall of June
L-G orders setting up of an emergency control room to work 24x7, asks senior officers on leave to report back on duty.
City govt has launched WhatsApp chatbot (8130188222) and helpline (1800110093) for residents to report waterlogging
Civil aviation ministry sets up a 24/7 War Room to ensure full refund of cancelled flights
NEW DELHI : After record heat, it poured like there was no tomorrow on the first day of monsoon in the national capital, drenching Delhi with the highest one-day rainfall in 88 years. It rained cats and dogs from about 4 am to 8.30 am and left major parts of Delhi and the adjoining national capital region flooded.
At least seven people died in separate incidents, including two children aged 8 and 10 years. The first death was reported from the Delhi airport where a 45-year-old cab driver died after a canopy fell over his parked car.
Around the same time, the Delhi Fire Service received a call that three labourers were trapped in Vasant Vihar area in a mud slush at an under construction site. “Some labourers were sleeping there when the ground caved in due to rains,” an officer told this newspaper.
The official informed that initially divers were sent to enter the muddy area but that attempt did not work out. A massive operation to fish out their bodies was on to extricate the bodies.
In New Usmanpur area, two kids aged 8 and 10 years died after they drowned in a pool of rainwater in the evening.
Water entered homes, submerging vehicles and leading to massive traffic snarls that took hours to clear. Thousands of commuters found themselves stranded.
The Safdarjung Automatic Weather Station recorded 228.1 mm rainfall in 24 hours, the second highest since 1936 when the precipitation was 235 mm. The total rainfall recorded in June so far is 234.5 mm as against the normal of 74.1 mm. Friday’s downpour was more than one-third of the total normal monsoon rainfall from June to September at Safdarjung, which is around 640 mm.
“Following a hot weather streak, the region got 148.5 mm, almost the double of June’s normal rain, in just 3 hours, and nearly the entire August rain in about 6 hours,” said Akshay Deoras, UK-based scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Department of Meteorology, University of Reading.
