Strong winds and thunderstorm hit New Delhi-NCR region

A massive thunderstorm accompanied with strong winds hit the national capital and its adjoining areas on Tuesday, according to the MeT department.

According to reports, following the thunderstorm, there was o power outage in parts of Faridabad and many other places. Trees were uprooted in parts of Delhi.

Earlier today, the maximum temperature was recorded at 34.7 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal while the minimum settled at 22 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year, a MeT official said. The humidity levels oscillated between 54 and 28 per cent.

The weatherman had predicted hazy sky in the evening with possibility of heavy rain and thunderstorm late night.

A dust storm, with a wind speed of 70 kilometres per hour, had hit the national capital last night followed by a squall, bringing down the temperature after a hot day.

All evening schools run by Delhi government and few private schools operating in morning shift remained closed today. Delhi government had put search and rescue teams on standby in the wake of the weatherman issuing a warning of heavy rain and thunderstorm.

The traffic police has alerted their field formations to be ready to remove obstacles such as fallen trees and asked commuters to check weather conditions before travelling.

The Delhi Metro, too, has decided to exercise extreme caution in running of trains in the wake of the warning. According to airport sources, six flights had to be diverted last night due to strong winds. However, operations were normal in the morning.

At least 124 people lost their lives due to dust storms in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan earlier this week. In Rajasthan, 35 persons were killed, while 209 were left injured.