Heavy rains in Delhi for 3 days! IMD sounds orange alert

A day after monsoon's first heavy shower in the capital wreaked havoc killing three and ripping open scenes of devastation as houses were washed away after crashing down in just four hours of rain, the India Meteorological Department sounded orange alert here for the next three days, predicting heavy rain at isolated places on Monday.

This came a day after the capital city received spells of heavy monsoon showers, which threw traffic into disarray and led to the collapse of several shanties. Three people, including a child, died in rain-related incidents.

IMD has four colour-coded warnings as per the intensity of any weather system -- green, yellow, orange and red. Orange alert is given to authorities to be prepared.

The weather bureau has predicted, "Light to moderate rain and thundershowers accompanied with gusty winds, speed 30-50 kmph. Heavy rain at isolated places." There might be traffic congestion and water accumulation in low lying areas, the IMD added.

According to data with the Delhi's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded a rainfall of 2.2 mm, while Palam and Ayanagar recorded 2.7 mm and 23.1 mm rainfall since morning.

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD's regional forecasting centre told IANS the capital might witness moderate showers on Tuesday morning as well.

According to the private weather agency Skymet, "There will be on and off monsoon showers in Delhi and surrounding regions. At some places, there might be heavy rainfall."

Delhi's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre data showed that Safdarjung observatory recorded 124.9 mm rainfall from July 1 to July 20. There were seven rainy days this month.

The observatory had recorded the all-time wettest July in 2003 when it recorded the rainfall of 632.2 mm. The all-time rain record for July in Delhi is 266.2 mm recorded on July 21, 1958. It recorded 93.3 mm and 153.6 mm till July 20 in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

In June, 81.8 mm rainfall was recorded in Delhi, 25 per cent above normal than the long period average. There were 13 rainy days in June. The all-time record of total amount of rainfall for the month is 414.8 mm recorded in June 1936.

The city government is closely monitoring the situation following waterlogging in parts of the city, with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia saying that appropriate steps would be taken to cover the losses due to heavy rains.

At the national level, Cherrapunji in Meghalaya recorded the highest rainfall of 327 mm, followed by Pasighat and Minicoy in Arunanchal Pradesh and Lakshadweep at 158 mm and 137 mm, respectively.

The four-month Southwest monsoon had arrived in the country on June 1 in Kerala, covering other states and making an onset in Delhi on June 25.