Heavy rains and severe thunderstorms caused a series of waterlogging in the Delhi-National Capital region on Thursday. Several trees were uprooted when gusty winds blew in the afternoon, relieving the intense heat for several days.
Pictures from Film City in Sector 16, published by news agency ANI, show uprooted trees in pockets of Noida.
Besides uprooting trees, waterlogging was recorded in several parts of Noida due to sudden rains.
The IMD orange alert remains active
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) initially issued a yellow alert, but later raised it to red as the sky turned dark and strong winds preceded a spell of heavy rain in the afternoon.
As of 7 pm, orange alert remains active in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.
The maximum temperature in Delhi is expected to range between 40 to 42 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature is likely to settle around 29.7 degrees Celsius.
The region is expected to witness partly cloudy skies with wind speeds ranging between 40 and 50 km per hour, reaching approximately 60 km per hour during the afternoon and evening.
Another spell of light rain, accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning, is expected to continue through the night.
IMD announces the start of monsoon
The IMD officially declared the onset of the southwest monsoon on Thursday as it entered the Kerala coast, kicking off the country’s four-month monsoon season.
The monsoon season usually arrives in Kerala around June 1. However, on May 15, the IMD forecast that the southwest monsoon is likely to blow over Kerala on May 26, with a model margin of error of ± four days.
The Meteorological Department said in a statement on Thursday that the monsoon has advanced to the remaining parts of the southwest and southeastern Arabian Sea, parts of the western and middle eastern Arabian Sea, the entire Lakshadweep Islands, Kerala and Mahe, parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, the remaining Moon region, the southeastern Bay of Bengal and other parts of the southwestern and central eastern Bay of Bengal.
