Delhi Weather: Dust storm, rain lash parts of city; two flights diverted

NEW DELHI: Dust storm, strong winds and rain swept parts of the national capital on Friday, and two flights were diverted from the Delhi airport late in the evening due to bad weather, officials said. Two Air India flights were diverted from the airport to Jaipur, an official said. Issuing an advisory for the dust storm, the MeT department urged the people to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel.

“Residents are urged to stay indoors, secure their windows and doors and refrain from unnecessary travel,'' the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in the advisory.

The IMD asked people to seek safe shelters and avoid cover under trees.

The Delhi Traffic Police have issued a traffic alert on Dharam Marg and Janakpuri after a road at B2 Janakpuri was blocked by a large broken tree. In a post on X, the traffic police said asked commuters to avoid the stretch. There were multiple reports of trees falling in different areas due to the strong winds in the city.

The weather department had earlier predicted generally cloudy skies with the possibility of dust storms and thunderstorms on Friday, with light rain accompanied by hailstorms at isolated places.

Squally winds with speeds of 60-70 kmph were also predicted for Friday night.

''Due to the new active western disturbance, the capital will experience drizzle late Friday night, Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head of the Regional Meteorological Centre, had said earlier.

The maximum temperature settled at 39 degrees Celsius on Friday. The relative humidity oscillated between 47 and 64 per cent during the day, the IMD said.

The minimum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle at 39 and 29 degrees Celsius respectively on Saturday. There was a high chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday, Srivastava had told PTI.