A powerful thunderstorm accompanied by heavy rain swept across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) early Friday morning, May 2, leading to significant waterlogging, disrupted transport and even loss of life. In Gurugram, several areas were inundated, causing major traffic disruptions, with visuals of submerged roads quickly making their way to social media platform X.
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The impact of the storm was severe and widespread. In Kharkhari village in Dwarka, a tragic incident occurred when a tree fell onto a tubewell room on a farm, resulting in the d*ath of four individuals and injuring another. Authorities confirmed the casualties, underscoring the storm’s destructive power.
The weather conditions also affected flight operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. Officials reported that the storm led to delays of over a hundred flights and forced the diversion of at least three. One flight was rerouted to Ahmedabad, while two others were redirected to Jaipur. Additionally, a SpiceJet flight from Leh, which was scheduled to arrive around 8 a.m., had to be cancelled. IndiGo also called off its flights bound for Srinagar and Leh due to the ongoing disruptions.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier issued a yellow alert on Thursday, forecasting thunderstorms with light rain and gusty winds reaching up to 50 km/hr. However, as conditions worsened early Friday, the IMD upgraded its advisory to a red alert around 5:30 a.m. The revised forecast warned of moderate to heavy rainfall accompanied by a severe thunderstorm, with wind speeds expected to range between 70 and 80 km/hr, lasting until approximately 8:30 a.m.
This intense weather system caused widespread inconvenience and highlighted the region’s vulnerability to sudden climatic events, especially with the monsoon season still weeks away.
