Monsoon makes rapid strides

Heavy rains lashed the national capital and most parts of northern India on Sunday as the monsoon arrived almost a fortnight ahead of its scheduled time. With the rains, the maximum temperature also plummeted eight notches below average at 31.5 degree Celsius, bringing relief to residents.

Pre-monsoon showers in northern India during the last three days had already brought respite from the sweltering heat.

“The southwest monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and entire Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi and Punjab,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

“It has covered the entire country today on June 16. Monsoon has covered entire Delhi and is nearly two weeks ahead of its scheduled time,” the official added. The normal date for the arrival of monsoon in Delhi is June 29. Monsoon arrived early due to low pressure area in central India, the official added.

Rains in Delhi led to water-logging and traffic snarls in some areas with the MeT office forecasting heavy showers in some parts of the city on Monday. The incessant heavy rains also led to waterlogging at the Indira Gandhi international airport here, causing inconvenience to passengers who waded through knee deep water while the baggage handling system was left crippled.

The national capital recorded around 36.6 mm rainfall. But the airport witnessed an “unprecedented” rainfall of 117.8 mm in four and a half hours, between 1 pm and 5.30 pm.

The amount of rain water, combined with poor drainage in the surrounding area and topography of airport led to back flow of water towards the Terminal 3 of the airport.

“Incessant rains, poor drainage system in surrounding area and comparative low elevation of the airport led to back flow of water, which led to flooding at terminal area,” an airport official said.

Services at the domestic arrivals were the most affected due to flooding which forced the airport authorities to close the functioning of four baggage belts, causing inconvenience to passengers.

On Sunday, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and several areas in Rajasthan also experienced rainfall. The national capital witnessed heavy rainfalls throughout the day. It had also witnessed pre-monsoon showers in the last few days that had brought high temperature in the city providing respite to common man.

Rainfall is expected to be at 101 per cent of long-term average in July and 96 per cent in August.
—With agency inputs