New Delhi, May 13:  Due to bad weather conditions in the national capital, operations at the Delhi airport came to a halt on Sunday. Th flight movements at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were put on hold due to bad weather conditions.  According to a tweet by ANI, more than 70 flight diversions at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport as bad weather conditions continue in the region.

At least nine people have been killed and 34 injured in Uttar Pradesh after a thunderstorm hit the state. One woman dead and a man have been seriously injured after a hoarding fell on them due to a heavy dust storm in Greater Noida. In West Bengal, heavy rainfall and lightning have taken lives of four children in Howrah while in the national capital, two people have been killed and 18 people injured due to a dust storm.

On Sunday evening, a squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph barrelled through Delhi and neighbouring areas, affecting flight, rail and metro operations, uprooting trees, and leading to incidents of wall collapse.

The sky turned dark grey around 4:30 pm. Gusty winds and rain lashed the national capital, causing the temperature to drop around 10 notches.

Metro operations were affected at a number of stations on the Violet and Blue lines after trees fell on overhead electricity (OHE) wires. Metro services between Indraprastha and Karol Bagh metro stations were disrupted after a tree fell on the tracks of the route between Rajiv Chowk to RK Ashram metro stations.

Meanwhile, due to the worsening weather due to the thunderstorm, squalls and rain, metro movement at the Noida Dwaraka line was stalled for 30 minutes. However, the movement has now resumed. Earlier this week, the Delhi government decided to close all evening schools on Tuesday following the weather department's warning about heavy rains and thunderstorm.

Skies in Haryana's Faridabad turned dark on Sunday afternoon as strong winds & dust storm hit the region. Meanwhile, Delhi's RK Puram area and National Capital Region (NCR) was also hit by strong winds and dust storm.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had also issued a warning of thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail in large parts of northern parts of India. The bad weather conditions have prompted authorities to put in place various emergency measures such as part-closure of schools and cancelling leave of civic officials.

According to a PTI report, the government said that all evening schools (a second shift which starts from the afternoon) will be shut on Tuesday. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by chief secretary Anshu Prakash to review preparedness in the wake of the warning.

The Met Department on Sunday issued thunderstorm and dust storm alert in 26 Uttar Pradesh districts. "Thunderstorm and dust storm with winds speeds of up to 70 km per hour are "very likely" tomorrow in 26 districts of Uttar Pradesh", the weather office warned today.

It said the districts that could be affected are Bahraich, Shrawasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharth Nagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Azamgargh and Ambedkar Nagar.

On Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would witness thunderstorm accompanied by squall. Its forecast said parts of Rajasthan might also see dust storm. Thunderstorm over the northern hill-states and its effect in the plains is due to a western disturbance, the IMD said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 13, 2018 05:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).