Heavy rain lashes Delhi-NCR, brings respite from sweltering heat, disrupts traffic

New Delhi [India], July 20 (ANI): Heavy rains lashed the national capital on Wednesday afternoon, leaving low-lying areas water-logged thereby affecting traffic movement in parts of the city.
The traffic police issued an advisory, asking people to check the weather before heading out.
Generally cloudy sky, moderate rain or thundershowers are predicted in the city over the next three days, the daily bulletin by the India Meteorological Department informed.
The weather department has issued a yellow alert in the Capital city with a warning of moderate to heavy rainfall. The intensity of rainfall is set to increase from Wednesday onwards and the weather could also bring the maximum temperature down to around 32 degrees Celsius by Thursday.
IMD tweeted, "Thundershower with moderate to heavy intensity rain with very heavy intensity rain over isolated places and gusty winds with speed of 30-50 Km/h would occur over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and NCR ( Loni Dehat, Hindon AF Station, Bahadurgarh, Ghaziabad, Indirapuram,....."
".......Chhapraula, Noida, Dadri, Greater Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad, Manesar, Ballabhgarh) Sonipat, Rohtak, Kharkhoda, Mattanhail, Jhajjar, Farukhnagar, Sohana, Palwal (Haryana) Bagpat, Khekra, Modinagar, Kithor, Amroha, Moradabad, Garhmukteshwar, Rampur, Pilakhua, Hapur, Gulaoti, Siyana, Sambhal, Billari, Milak, Sikandrabad, Chandausi, Bulandshahar, Jahangirabad, Anupshahar, Bahajoi, Bareilly, Shikarpur, Khurja, Pahasu, Debai, Narora, Gabhana, Sahaswan, Atrauli, Badayun, Kasganj, Ganjdundwara, Etah (U.P.) during next 2 hours," tweeted IMD today.
With the fresh spell of rain, the air quality in the national capital is in the 'satisfactory category'. System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), a government agency, today morning informed that the overall AQI is at 90 at 3:00 PM.
As per the government agencies, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.
The minimum temperature on Wednesday was 31 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature is predicted to reach 40 degrees Celsius.
Flight operations at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport might get affected today due to bad weather in the national capital. Airlines such as Vistara and SpiceJet took to Twitter to inform the passengers about the same and requested them to get in touch with the airline concerned for updated flight information.
"#TravelUpdate: Due to bad weather (Heavy Rainfall) expected in Delhi, Arrivals/Departures are likely to get impacted. Please visit http://airvistara.com or SMS UK<Flight no.> to 9289228888 to check the updated flight status. Thank You," Vistara tweeted
Another airline company, SpiceJet tweeted, "#WeatherUpdate: Due to bad weather (heavy rain) in Delhi (DEL), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status via http://bit.ly/2tG9xBx."
Yesterday, some parts of the national capital received light rainfall, bringing a little respite to residents from sultry weather. However, the maximum temperature settled at 37.7 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal. (ANI)