New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS): Heavy rain and gusty winds lashed the national capital and neighbouring areas on Wednesday morning, leading to waterlogging and traffic disruption in several areas.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), southwesterly winds from the Arabian sea and southeasterly winds from the Bay of Bengal are feeding moisture to the capital region.
The weather bureau has sounded 'orange' alert for the national capital for two days. It has alerted that there could be water accumulation in low-lying areas, traffic disruption and increased chances of vehicle accidents.
Meanwhile, the Traffic Police has also issued warning of waterlogging at various low-lying areas near All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), under Palam, Badarpur and Sarita Vihar flyover, MB road near Batra hospital, Punjabi Bagh, Pul Prahladpur underpass among other places.
According to data with the Delhi's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded a rainfall of 31.8 mm in the last two days.
Rainfall recorded below 15 mm is considered light, between 15 and 64.5 mm is moderate and above 64.5 mm is heavy.
The station has recorded 147.4 mm in July month. There were 11 rainy days this month. The observatory had recorded the all-time wettest August in 1961 when it recorded the rainfall of 583.3 mm.
The rainy morning also brought down the mercury. The maximum and minimum temperature today will hover over 32 and 27 degree Celsius.
The air quality of the national capital is in the good category, with the particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 and 10 microns, which are too small to be filtered out of the body, mounting to 23 and 49 micrograms per cubic.