Massive dust storm and rain was witnessed by Delhi residents today.
At least 13 flights to Delhi were diverted and many were delayed as the city witnessed a massive dust storm and rain which claimed a life today.
The rain came after days of heat wave, lowering the temperature by 8 degrees - from 41 to 33 degrees Celsius -- within an hour. Weather officials, however, say the heat will be back.
Most of the flight diversions and delays occurred between 3 to 7 pm. Among others, a Saudia flight from Riyadh was diverted to Ahmedabad and an AirArabia flight from Sharjah was diverted to Jaipur.
The storm uprooted trees and damaged sign posts across the city. In Noida, it brought down a huge unipole, that killed one person and injured another. The unipole had fallen on a car outside the DLF Mall. The driver, who was inside, was unharmed. But a passing motorcyclist died and another person was injured.
Till 5.30 pm, the Safdarjung observatory recorded 0.8 mm rainfall. Traces of rainfall were observed in Palam. The Delhi airport sees around 1,100 flight movements every day.
Today's storm was a result of Western disturbances - a tropical storm starting in the Mediterranean Sea that brings rain and snow in the Himalayan region - passing over Jammu and Kashmir.
The weather, the met office said, will remain pleasant for the next two days.
BP Yadav, head of the national weather forecasting centre of the India Meteorological Department, however, said the heat will be back in late May or early June.
Several parts of India had been suffering a heat wave over the last week, when the average temperature had been above 40 degrees Celsius. Several persons had died in the heat wave, roads had melted and cases of heat-related ailments, like dehydration and heatstroke had witnessed an upswing.