By Bisola Adeyemo
Flood ravaged Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi after heavy rainfall for hours which also caused bad weather on flight operations on Friday.
An ‘orange alert’ has been issued as the monsoon rainfall in Delhi breached the 1,000 mm mark on Friday, the highest annual rainfall in 46 years.
News agency ANI reports said several aircraft on the ground at the airport which is partially flooded.
The bad weather has affected flight operations at the airport, with airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet requesting passengers to track their flight status before leaving for the airport.
The “sudden heavy rain” led to waterlogging at the forecourt, the Delhi International Airport (DIAL) said on Twitter, adding that the issue “has been resolved”.
“Our team was immediately aligned to look into it and the issue has been resolved,” it tweeted.
As many as five flights – four Delhi-bound domestic flights and one international flight – were diverted to neighbouring cities due to heavy rainfall on Saturday, news agency ANI reported quoting airport officials. They also said that three IndiGo flights which were scheduled to depart from Delhi were cancelled due to bad weather.
The India Meteorological Department or IMD has predicted thunderstorms with heavy to very heavy intensity rain in Delhi and its adjoining areas.
In the latest update at 12:10 pm IMD said, “Thunderstorm with heavy to very heavy intensity rain would occur over and adjoining areas of few places of Delhi (Akshardham, Shahadra, Preet Vihar), NCR (Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Loni Dehat, Hindon AF, Indirapuram, Chapraula)”.
Earlier the national capital received moderate to heavy rainfall today, bringing slight respite from the heat in the city. The continuous rain caused waterlogging in several parts of Delhi.
This is the first time since 1975 that monsoon rainfall in Delhi breached the 1,000 mm mark.
“The Safdarjung Observatory, which is considered the official marker for the city, had gauged 1,150 mm of rainfall in the 1975 monsoon season. This year, the precipitation has already hit the 1,100-mm mark and the season has not ended yet,” an IMD official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Normally, Delhi records 648.9 mm of rainfall during the monsoon season, according to the IMD.
