New Delhi: A violent dust storm, which also brought along thunderstorms and downpours, destroyed Delhi and resulted in the deaths of two and injuries to 23 others. The storm’s strong winds uprooted trees, eliminated poles for electricity, did structural damage all over the city, and caused power outages in many places.
A temperature drop, down to 37°C, is forecasted for Sunday by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), as from today, Delhi is expected to rain. National weather forecasting agency IMD holds that the gusts of wind during the storm this Friday in certain areas of Delhi reached up to 77 km/h.
Authorities received numerous distress calls, including reports of fallen trees, poles, and collapsed buildings. Over 200 calls were related to power disruptions, while nine flights were canceled at Delhi airport due to adverse weather conditions.
Initially as a “yellow alert,” weather department upgraded the warning to “orange alert” which indicates considerable change in weather conditions. The hurricane, which originated because of the north-easterly and south-westerly winds that met together, started around 9 pm on Friday.
IMD directed the residents to stay inside their houses and to apply preventive measures to avoid complications due to inclement weather. The one headlining meteorologist, Krishna Mishra, attributed the storm to atmospheric interactions and foresaw weather the weekend filled with somewhat cloudy skies and the possibility of light rain and a thunderstorm. Partly cloudy weather is prevailing over the country until May 14. This forecast is driven by western disturbances and surface winds attributed to the Bay of Bengal.
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