7 Dead, 200 Flights Cancelled As Rains Lash North India

New Delhi: A three-hour torrential rain accompanied by a dust storm and gutsy wind hit north India, including the Delhi-NCR, early on Friday, taking a toll of seven lives, uprooting over 100 trees, delaying over 200 flights and disrupting traffic across the affected areas.

The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was blocked after the rain caused a landslide. Busy road stretches in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad and Mathura were inundated with water as commuters were stuck in slow-moving traffic.

A 28-year-old woman and her three children were killed when their house in south-west Delhi's Najafgarh area collapsed after a tree fell on it. "Police and fire department officers pulled the family out of the rubble and rushed them to a nearby hospital in Jaffarpur Kalan, where four of them were declared dead." Another incident was reported at Dwarka's Chhawla area, where three people sustained minor injuries when a wall collapsed.

Condoling the death, the chief minister, Rekha Gupta, announced Rs 25 lac ex gratia to next of kin of four family members.

In Uttar Pradesh, three people were killed and several injured in lightning strikes. Two of them were labourers working on a road project under MGNREGA in Firozabad. A family trying to cover a haystack with a tarpaulin sheet was also hit. Diksha, 17, was struck dead by a lightning strike in Etah district. Her sister, Sapna, suffered burns, so did her father and brother.

In UP’s Firozabad again, a lightning strike killed Satyendra, 35, and Vishnu, 25 on the spot. A third, Devendra, 30, was injured and rushed to a hospital, UP police said.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to visit affected areas, assess damage to crops and livestock, and ensure that relief is distributed immediately.

Himachal Pradesh was also lashed by a hailstorm and rain. Kufri, Bilaspur, Reckong Peo, Bajura, Narkanada, and Tabo were smitten by a gusty wind, while thunderstorms occurred in Shimla, Jubbarhatti, Sundernagar, Jot, Bhuntar, Murari Devi and Kangra. The Met station had issued an orange alert of hailstorms at isolated places in the state on Friday and orange and yellow warnings of thunderstorms, lightning, and winds with a speed of up to 30-50 kmph till next Thursday.

The unexpected but heavy downpour was caused by moisture and wind convergence over the region, fed by both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, the weather department said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for the national capital, urging people to remain vigilant.

Between 100 and 200 trees were uprooted in Delhi alone, according to civic authorities. Delhi's Minto Bridge, ITO, Major Somnath Marg in RK Puram, and Khanpur were flooded with rainwater, causing heavy traffic jams in the areas. Traffic crawled on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway while congestion was also seen at Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, and IFFCO Chowk.

Delhi received 77 mm of rain in just three hours beginning around 5 am.

Three flights were diverted and more than 200 flights were delayed at the Delhi airport as thunderstorms and gusty winds disrupted operations. An official said two flights scheduled to land at the Delhi airport were diverted to Jaipur and one to Ahmedabad.

Delhi Fire Services received around 100 calls of rain-related incidents during the three-four hours of storm and heavy showers. In the Lutyens' Delhi area, at least 25 tree fall cases and 12 complaints related to waterlogging were received.

A Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) spokesperson said it received 22 power cut complaints, which were restored within a few minutes to one hour. Distribution Company BSES said that in a few low-lying and waterlogged areas, the electricity supply had to be cut temporarily as a precautionary measure.