Delhi experiences wettest August in 15 yrs

If you thought there was something unusual about the wet spell  the city is experiencing, you’re right. This August has been the wettest in 15 years and there are 10 days still to month’s end. Till 8.30 pm on Saturday, 373.9mm of rainfall was recorded as against 1961’s 583.3mm. In 110 years, there have been only seven Augusts that were wetter than this one.

The met department is not promising a breather. "At least for the next three days, we are expecting more heavy showers in Delhi while the rest of the month is also likely to get good rain," said B P Yadav, director, IMD.

This can only add to the troubles of those organizing the Commonwealth Games. The rain can only delay unfinished work, even as it reveals underlying problems with completed projects. But even as waterlogging, and traffic jams continue, the city is quietly enjoying this much-needed respite from heat.

On Saturday, the Yamuna crossed the danger mark of 204.82 metres. All the year round, it is nothing more than a drain and barely visible but on Saturday, it was full and there were boats bobbing on it.

The city recorded 17.4 mm rain till 5.30 pm. The maximum and minimum temperatures were 28.4 degrees Celsius, six degrees below normal, and 26.8 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal, respectively.

The incessant rain brought in its wake the usual problems of waterloggging and traffic jams in some parts of the city such as MG Road, Chirag Dilli, Delhi Cantt, Dhaula Kuan, Moti Bagh and some parts of east Delhi. Traffic snarls would have been worse had it been a working day.

The MCD control room received 78 complaints of waterlogging from areas like Vasant Vihar, G K II, Hauz Khas, Lado Sarai, Saket, Vasant Kunj etc. Gurgaon and other NCR towns were similarly affected. A cave-in was reported at Harish Chandra Mathur Lane near KG Marg in Central Delhi.

While the rain deficiency in June and July gave jitters to the government, the incessant rain has wiped away those worries. Northwest India has already recorded a surplus rain of 4% against its long period average while Delhi has also made up its deficiency with 616 mm rain being recorded here since the start of the season on June 1.

"August has been a good month for almost all parts of the country other than east and northeast which too are as of now getting decent rainfall. For Delhi and neighbouring areas, the main reasons for the good rain have been the location of the monsoon trough, cyclonic circulation over west UP and Haryana and good moisture incursion from both Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. The monsoon trough has been oscillating between north and south quite rapidly and this has brought heavy showers to the region," said Yadav.

Delhi’s rain had been deficient almost constantly since the third week of July. July, with 239.6 mm rain, ended up with a deficiency of 84%. Some of this was made up in the first week of August, though by the second half, the situation was back to square one. In the week between August 11 and 18, the rainfall went from being deficient by 84% to a surplus of 31%. While the highest rainfall on a given day this season has not crossed 62 mm, most of the past week has seen the rainfall figure consistently cross at least 20 mm.

Till Wednesday, the New Delhi district had seen 460.2 mm rain against a normal of 461 mm. North, east and southwest districts were close behind, short by 7%, 9% and 10%, respectively.

The Met department said the monsoon trough is passing through Ferozepur, Delhi, Kanpur, Gaya and Behrampore before moving towards northeast, particularly Assam. "A low pressure area might form over west UP and its neighbourhood and over west-central and adjoining south-west Bay of Bengal. Consequently, widespread and heavy showers are expected over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Gangetic West Bengal and the northeast states," said a met official.