New Delhi: The weather in Delhi took a sudden turn on Saturday when a severe dust storm and strong winds hit the city, plunging the national capital into darkness.
The Met department had predicted earlier in the day that a dust storm accompanied by light rain and squall with wind speed reaching up to 70-80 kmph would occur over Delhi and NCR.
The sudden change temporarily halted operations at the Delhi airport, with 27 flights being diverted between 5pm and 6pm. Operations have now been restored.
Jet Airways took to Twitter to announce that some of its flights to and from Delhi had been affected. Vistara's Mumbai-Delhi flight was diverted to Amritsar due to the inclement weather, while its Guwahati-Delhi flight was diverted to Lucknow.
Services on the Red Line and Blue Line of the Delhi Metro were affected briefly due to some snags on a few stretches after a dust storm. "Due to sudden dust storm and rain around 5 pm, there were a few cases of track circuit signalling drop reported on Line 1 (Red Line) and Line 3 (Blue Line) and external object striking overhead electrification near Janakpuri East," a senior DMRC official said.
The dust storm pushed the temperature down by a few notches on what was a sultry day. The city recorded a high of 40.5 degrees Celsius and a low of 30 degrees Celsius, according to the MeT office.
The humidity levels were recorded at 71 per cent.
The weather office warned people to exercise caution and not expose themselves to the inclement weather.
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