Showers,cloudy days to mark most of this week

To take stock of the situation,Delhi Mayor Rajni Abbi on Monday held a meeting with senior MCD officials,including all the 12 deputy commissioners. The Mayor said the MCD has at its disposal 105 permanent water pumps,working at 95 per cent capacity to get rid of stagnating water,and officials are currently trying to increase their working capacity to 100 per cent.

Beside permanent water pumps,the MCD has also deployed 625 portable water pumps to drain out water on a need basis. “To ensure a problem-free monsoon,I have told all district commissioners to deploy manpower and equipment without delay. They have also been told to purchase pumps and pipes,in case they find the existing equipment insufficient,” said Abbi.

Safdarjung recorded 9.6 mm rain between Sunday night and Monday morning. The temperature rose by three degrees from Sunday,but still remained at a modest 34 degrees Celsius,four degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was recorded at 26.4 degrees Celsius. But the humidity,which touched 95 per cent,was enough to make people sweat as soon as it stopped raining.

On Monday,the minimum temperature was recorded at 25 degrees Celsius and maximum was recorded at 31 degrees Celsius.

“Until Friday,it will remain cloudy with intermittent showers. However,nobody can say for sure because monsoon in India is highly unpredictable,” said the weatherman at Safdarjung Met Department. The temperatures will hover between 35 degrees Celsius and 27 degrees Celsius on Tuesday,he added.

On Monday,the rains started around 9 am,and the rain gauges measured 10 mm of rain at Narela weather station,10 mm at Pitampura,6 mm at Pusa,5 mm at Najafgarh,9 mm at Delhi University and 9.9 mm in the ridge area. It rained on several occasions during the day. While Palam weather station saw 3.7 mm of rain,it stood at 7.5 mm in Lodhi Colony Station area,9 mm in Akshardhan and 11 mm in the Yamuna Sports Complex locality.

The monsoon had arrived in the Capital three days ago,on Sunday,after many days of hot and humid weather.

Last year,the monsoon had arrived late in the Capital,with seasonal rains starting only by July 5. The earliest arrival of monsoon over Delhi in the past 30 years was on June 15,2008,while the most delayed was on July 26,1987.