Heavy rains in Delhi: Kejriwal cancels govt officials' Sunday off, asks them to be on field

With heavy rains battering Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has cancelled the Sunday, July 8, leave of all government officials and instructed them to be on the field.

He also said Delhi Cabinet ministers and Mayor Shelly Oberoi will be inspecting the "problem areas" on the city.

In a tweet in Hindi, Kejriwal said, "Yesterday, Delhi received 126 mm of rainfall. Fifteen per cent of the total rainfall that Delhi gets every monsoon was received in just 12 hours. People were severely affected due to waterlogging.

"Today, all the ministers of Delhi and the mayor will carry out an inspection of problem areas. Directions have been issued to all officers to be on the ground and their Sunday off has been cancelled," he said.

Delhi recorded 153 mm of rain in 24 hours ending 8:30 on Sunday, the highest in a single day in July since 1982, the India Meteorological Department said.

An interaction between a western disturbance and monsoonal winds is leading to an intense rainfall spell over northwest India, including Delhi which experienced the season's first "very heavy" rainfall.

The Safdarjung Observatory, the city's primary weather station, recorded 153 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Sunday, the highest since the 24-hour rainfall of 169.9 mm on July 25, 1982, a senior IMD official said.

It was the third-highest single-day rainfall for July since 1958, it added.