As predicted by the weathermen, the monsoon reached Delhi on Friday as it rained started in the late evening. However, the first monsoon rain was very light but due to evening peak hour traffic jams were reported from several areas in the city.
“Monsoon reached the city in the early hours of Friday with very light rains in the Ridge areas. However, it rained in the evening in almost the entire city,” said a senior officer at the Regional Meteorological Center, Delhi. In around half an hour’s rain, Delhi received 16 mm rain till 8.30 pm on Friday. The city is presently under rain deficiency as it has received only 46 mm of rain against an average of 71 mm so far for the season. On an average Delhi gets 225.3 mm of rain.
The weathermen have predicted a normal to above normal monsoon rain during the season. The maximum temperature on Friday was recorded at 36.6 degrees Celsius which was normal while the minimum was pegged at 27.2 degrees Celsius which was one point below normal.
“The maximum and minimum temperatures on Saturday will hover at around 30 and 23 degrees Celsius respectively,” a weather official added. The weathermen have predicted a cloudy sky, thunderstorms with light to moderate rain in almost all the areas of the city. Humidity was high on Friday with maximum humidity recorded at 98 per cent while the minimum was at 45 per cent.
Meanwhile, traffic jams were reported at ITO and Connaught Place in Central Delhi, Shadipur Depot in West Delhi and Dhaula Kuan and Ashram in South Delhi. According to Delhi Traffic Police officials, traffic crawled at Hanuman Mandir towards GPO due to waterlogging at Kela Ghat and from Kamal T-Point towards Anand Parbat due to waterlogging.
Traffic snarls due to waterlogging were also reported from several parts of the city, including M B Road and Adhchini Marg in South Delhi, Preet Vihar, Lakshmi Nagar, Vasundhra Enclave in East Delhi and Tilak Marg in Central Delhi. The vehicles crawled at these intersections leading to traffic jams on many arterial roads as well.