IMD forecast today: After Delhi dust storm, city set to be hit by rain; flight disruptions likely

IMD forecast today: After bearing the blow of a massive dust storm on Sunday evening, the capital city today has clear sky in the morning, but the day will get cloudy and the city may receive light rain or drizzle later on, said an IMD official, adding that the minimum temperature was recorded at 23 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was likely to hover around 37 degrees Celsius, said the India Meteorological Department official, who also informed IANS that the humidity at 8.30 am was 60 per cent.
 
Maximum temperature on Sunday stood at 40.8 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was recorded at 26.7 degrees Celsius. Delhiites were stuck in different areas, as Metro service were also disrupted due to strong winds and rain. The dust storm with wind speed exceeding 100 kmph brought operations at the IGI airport to a halt during the evening rush hours, diverting as many as 70 flights to other places. The operations at the airport were reportedly shut down for close to two and half hours, and the air traffic operations could begin by 9 pm. A similar story may well come to pass for airlines passengers today also.
 
Various airlines took to the Twitter announcing the delays, in the wake of the disruptions due to the dust storm and thunderstorm. International flights from Kathmandu, Riyadh, Colombo, Jeddah, Kabul were delayed while flights from Tokyo, Newark and Colombo were diverted to other places, the sources told PTI, adding that some 10 international flights were diverted to Lucknow after the ATC at the IGI airport refused permission to land.
 
Dust storms and thunderstorms also affected rail services with the Nizamuddin-Palwal section being the worst affected as trees fell on railway tracks and overhead electrical equipment got damaged, a railway spokesperson stated. A number of trains were stranded, including the Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, which was held up at the Sonepat station. Several goods trains were reportedly stranded, even as operations on other routes remained normal.
 
Meanwhile, dust storms and thunderstorms wreaked havoc in many states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, killing at least 41 people and leaving behind a trail of destruction. Uttar Pradesh was severely affected witnessing the death left at least 18 people, while 12 people including four children were killed in West Bengal, nine in Andhra Pradesh, and two in Delhi, PTI report said. 
 
Thunderstorms had also hit isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the IMD stated. The fury of the nature came 10 days after it had hit UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 people and injuring over 400. UP was the worst affected, with 80 deaths, most of them had taken place in Agra district.

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The latest reports coming from Uttar Pradesh say that yesterday's dust storm has claimed about 38 lives, as six people were killed in Kasganj, the worst hit district, while five people each were killed in Bareilly and Barabanki districts. 
 
(With Inputs from Agencies)