74.3mm rainfall beats 10-yr record

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 14

Incessant rain continuing for 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday saw the city recording 74.3 mm of rainfall, the highest in December in the past 10 years. The continuing rain led to around six accidents across the city on Saturday night while air and train passengers had a tough time as rail and flight schedules were affected due to poor visibility.
The Met Department said the highest rainfall received in city in December was 51.2 mm in 2011 while the minimum was 1.4 mm in 2010. The rain dipped the maximum temperature to 14.7 degrees Celsius, a slight drop from yesterday’s daytime temperature of 15.2 degrees Celsius. However, today’s minimum temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius (recorded at around 8.30 am) was more than yesterday’s minimum temperature of 8.7 degrees Celsius.
The rain not only caused accidents, but the rail and air traffic was also affected due to poor visibility. The power supply was badly affected in several parts of the city. There were also reports of power supply being disrupted after a tree fell on the transmission lines along the road separating sectors 7 and 26.
Meanwhile, official said 74.3 mm rainfall in 24 hours had came as a big surprise to the Met Department though they were expecting a good spell in the city following snowfall in upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh. Snow was also reported in Barog.

As per the forecast, thundershowers with mist and fog during the morning expected tomorrow. The Met Department said there were chances of improvement in day and night temperatures. The maximum temperature is likely to be 18 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature 8 degrees Celsius. By the mid of the week, the days will be dry and chilly winds will lash the city.
Meanwhile, the supply of vegetables to the city has been hit in the past two days due to the rain in the region. Sources said an increase in the cost of vegetables, specially seasoned ones such as carrot, peas and cauliflower, is expected in the next two days.

Train, flight schedule affected
Bad weather continues to hit air traffic at the Chandigarh airport as two Delhi-bound flights failed to run their service here. The Delhi-bound flights of Jet Airways and Spicejet were cancelled while two more flights landed late by 20 minutes. “Two flights of Jet Airways and Spicejet bound to Delhi were cancelled. Two more flights landed with a delay of almost 30 minutes. The remaining flights operated on schedule,” said the airport manager.
The morning Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi Express arrived 25 minutes late while Sai Shirdi Express arrived two hours behind time.