Intense dust storm uproots trees in Delhi-NCR, disrupts traffic and flight movement

Vehicles ply at a road with headlights on, as visibility hets poor due to a storm and rains, in New Delhi on Sunday. (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: An intense dust storm accompanied by squall hit Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) on Sunday evening. In a sudden change of weather, the sky turned cloudy around 4:30 pm and gusty winds swept the city. Flight movements at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were also put on hold due to the thunderstorm. The sudden change of weather in Delhi forced airport authorities to divert at least 10 domestic flights.

10 flight diversions at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport so far due to bad weather conditions. pic.twitter.com/6bbWyChzf5

— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

The temperature was on Sunday recorded at 30.6 degrees Celsius. The humidity was recorded at 60 per cent at 8:30 am, a Meteorological (Met) department official said.

Delhi: Strong winds and dust storm hits the region, visuals from RK Puram area. pic.twitter.com/7wTq6BiOvS

— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

#WATCH: Skies in Faridabad turn dark as strong winds & dust storm hit the region. #Haryana pic.twitter.com/VRDn8AsGIP

— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

Vistara's Srinagar-Delhi flight was diverted to Amritsar and its Lucknow-Delhi flight was sent to Lucknow due to the inclement weather

Dust storm hits Ghaziabad. Visuals from Indirapuram. pic.twitter.com/QC5D8L0wEp

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 13, 2018

The Met office has forecast light rains will follow the dust storm. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had yesterday predicted Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would witness thunderstorm accompanied by squall. It had also forecast parts of Rajasthan might see dust storm. Thunderstorm over these hill-states states and its subsequent effect on plains in north Indian is due to a new western disturbance, the IMD had said. "Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds are also very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Vidharbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Telangana, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, south interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Kerala," the IMD had said in an advisory said. (With inputs from PTI)