Waterlogging, traffic congestion in parts of Delhi

New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) The overnight rainfall in the national capital affected normal life on Monday as several parts of the city reported traffic congestions and waterlogging.

As per reports, the rain caused massive traffic jams in various parts of Delhi leaving commuters stranded in long queues of cars at major roads like ITO junction, Tularam flyover, Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) Flyway among several others.

Some trees were also uprooted due to the strong winds and thunderstorms in and around Delhi. A big tree that fell near the Delhi cantonment area blocked the traffic from both sides, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

Apart from traffic jams, waterlogging was also reported from all the low-lying areas of the city.

Starting in the wee hours, Delhi-NCR and large parts of northwest India witnessed a massive dust storm followed by gusty winds and a thunderstorm accompanied with lightning bringing down surface temperature by 11 notches.

Flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport were also disrupted. The airport authorities requested the passengers to reach out to the airline concerned for updated flight information.

Airline companies like Air India and Indigo conveyed through social media that the departure of their flights may be affected due to the bad weather in Delhi.

"Keep enough travel time in hand while traveling to the airport," Indigo tweeted.

The rain and thunderstorm has also resulted in power outages in some parts of the city and nearby areas.

For the past few days, Delhi was reeling under sweltering heat and the rain has provided much-needed relief to the residents. The IMD had earlier predicted a wet spell for northwest India for three days, from May 22 to 24 with peak intensity on May 23.