Heavy rainfall lashes Delhi, mercury settles at 29.4 degrees Celsius

Heavy rains lashed parts of the national capital on Tuesday bringing down the maximum temperature to 29.4 degrees Celsius -- five notches below normal -- the Indian Meteorological Department said.

Heavy rains lashed parts of the national capital on Tuesday bringing down the maximum temperature to 29.4 degrees Celsius -- five notches below normal -- the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The weather department said 100 mm of rainfall was recorded at the Safdarjung observatory, which provides representative data for the city, in the last 24 hours. The rainfall was the highest in a 24-hour period in the month of July in eight years.

The minimum temperature recorded at the Safdarjung observatory was 25 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal, the IMD said.

The relative humidity recorded at 5.30 pm in the city was 93 per cent, it said.

On Monday, the maximum temperature settled at 33.1 degrees Celsius.

The weatherman has predicted generally cloudy skies with moderate rain and the possibility of thundershowers on Wednesday and said the maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 28 and 25 degrees Celsius respectively.

Heavy rains caused waterlogging at Mathura Road, Moti Bagh, Vikas Marg, Ring Road, Rohtak Road, Sangam Vihar and Kirari, among other places.

Due to the waterlogging, traffic crawled at ITO, underneath Moti Bagh metro station, Dhaula Kuan underpass, near Pragati Maidan, Mathura Road, Vikas Marg, Ring Road near IP Flyover, Rohtak Road.

According to the IMD, the southwest monsoon had reached Delhi on July 13 -- 16, several days behind the usual date of onset.