The Met office put down the massive thunder squall to a 14 km-tall cumulonimbus cloud that settled over the capital, splitting it in half, causing south, southwest and west Delhi to face its lashing tail. IGI Airport reported a windspeed of 114.8 kmph which resulted in massive disruption of air traffic. A loader was crushed to death by a heavy luggage pile while three aircraft were damaged as stray step ladders rammed into them.
Dr R K Jenamani, director in-charge, IGI Met, said Friday’s was the most severe dust storm recorded at the airport in terms of wind speed after eight years. “The storm was strongest in the tail end area of a cumulonimbus cloud. The 14 km high cloud cell had come from Chandigarh and was moving at a speed of 10-15 kmph across Delhi. While this brought extremely strong winds, it did not cause much rain,” he said.
At Safdarjung, which fell in the front of the massive cloud cell, the wind speed was 92 kmph and 0.6 mm rain was recorded. Among the nine people killed, two were in their cars at ITO and Chandni Chowk as trees came crashing on them while elsewhere, the wind and rain led weak walls to collapse.
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