Capital's Wet September Continues to Break Records, Cause Waterlogging Misery

Heavy rains lashed Delhi early on Saturday morning with the minimum temperature settling at 24 degrees Celsius, an official of the meteorological department said.

According to the Safdarjung observatory, which is considered the official marker for the city, the minimum temperature settled at 24 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal while relative humidity recorded at 8.30 am was 100 per cent.

The city received 97 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, the Met department official said. The weatherman has predicted generally cloudy sky with moderate rain and thunder showers for the day. There is also possibility of heavy rain at isolated places across the city later in the day while the maximum temperature in the national capital is likely to settle around 31 degrees Celsius.

Delhi recorded more than 100 mm of rainfall on two consecutive days at the start of the month — 112.1 mm on September 1 and 117.7 mm on September 2.

It has so far received 248.9 mm precipitation this month, surpassing the September average of 129.8 mm precipitation by a big margin.

Despite the monsoon embracing Delhi only on July 13, making it the most-delayed in 19 years, the capital had recorded 16 rainy days in the month, the maximum in the last four years. The string of rainy days gave 507.1 mm rainfall in Delhi, which was nearly 141 per cent above the long-period average of 210.6 mm. It was also the maximum rainfall in the month since July 2003, and the second highest ever.

On Friday, the maximum temperature in the national capital settled at 33.2 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal while the minimum temperature settled at 25.1 degrees Celsius, a point below the normal.

Waterlogging has been reported from several parts of the national capital including Moti Bagh and RK Puram in south Delhi after rains lashed the city Saturday morning.

According to civic agencies, apart from Moti Bagh and RK Puram, other stretches including Madhu Vihar, Hari Nagar, Rohtak Road, Badarpur, Som Vihar, Ring Road near IP Station, Vikas Marg, Sangam Vihar, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Pul Prahladpur Underpass, Munirka, Rajpur Khurd, Nangloi and Kirari also witnessed waterlogging.

People posted pictures and videos of waterlogged streets on social media. In a video on Twitter purportedly showing waterlogged streets in Madhu Vihar, some DTC cluster buses could be seen standing in the water, and other commuters manoeuvring their vehicles through the inundated road.

Officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) said the filed staff is on the ground to pump out water from streets.

“Due to heavy rain in the early morning (on Saturday), waterlogging occurred at a number of places. We are tackling those issues on priority. Our staff is present round the clock to monitor the situation,” a PWD official said.

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