Cool relief, gridlocked and waterlogged

Heavy rain lashed the national capital on Tuesday, triggering traffic snarls, flooding underpasses and leaving thousands of commuters stranded on key stretches in Delhi.

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

Vehicles ply on a waterlogged road amid rainfall, in New Delhi, on Tuesday

(PTI)

"As of Tuesday, between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm, the city's primary weather station recorded 37.8 mm of rainfall, pushing October's rainfall past its long-term monthly average of 15.1 mm.

"The final 24-hour figure, to be issued on Wednesday morning, is expected to place the city's rainfall well above the October average," the weather department said.

Delhi has already witnessed its wettest September and August in recent years. This August was the rainiest since 2010, when the city recorded 455.8 mm of rainfall, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an 'orange alert' for Delhi, upgrading it from yellow, warning of moderate to heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds reaching up to 40 kmph. Under the IMD's colour-coded system, an orange warning places the city in "be prepared" mode.

The rains arrived less than a week after the southwest monsoon officially withdrew from Delhi on September 24, a day earlier than its usual schedule. This marked the earliest withdrawal from the capital since 2002, when it retreated on September 20.