Dust storm in Delhi leaves 2 dead, over 20 injured

Two persons died and 23 others were injured as a dust storm followed by rains struck Delhi on May 10.

The Delhi Police said that the death of the two people and injuries to six others were due to uprooting of trees in the national capital. The police added that the 17 other people were injured due to damage to buildings.

The Delhi Police further said that they received 152 calls related to tree uprooting, 55 related to building damage and 202 related to power disruption.

Nine flights were diverted from the Delhi airport late in the evening due to bad weather. Some of the flights were diverted from the airport to Jaipur, an official said.

Issuing an advisory for the dust storm, the MeT department had urged the people to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel.

“Residents are urged to stay indoors, secure their windows and doors and refrain from unnecessary travel," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in the advisory.

The IMD asked people to seek safe shelters and avoid cover under trees.

The weather department had earlier predicted generally cloudy skies with the possibility of dust storms and thunderstorms on Friday, with light rain accompanied by hailstorms at isolated places.

Squally winds with speeds of 60-70 kmph were also predicted for Friday night.

"Due to the new active western disturbance, the capital will experience drizzle late Friday night, Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head of the Regional Meteorological Centre, had said earlier.

Also watch: Flash floods kill at least 50 in Afghanistan