Early Friday morning rain spell in the national capital led to heavy traffic jams stretching across several kilometres, bringing life to a standstill.
Traffic was affected on the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flyway, Mathura Road, Vikas Marg, ISBT, Geeta Colony, Rajaram Kohli Marg, and from Badarpur to Ashram, an official of the Delhi Traffic Police said.
Office-goers and school bus drivers complained of major inconvenience as long queues of vehicles lined up.
The Delhi Traffic Police said its teams were deployed at multiple points to manage congestion and regulate the flow of vehicles.
"Due to rain and waterlogging in some pockets, traffic movement was slow. Our personnel have been deployed to streamline the situation and assist commuters," an officer added.
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Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro services on a stretch of the Yellow Line were also disrupted during the rush hours on Friday morning, leaving commuters struggling to reach their destinations on time.
Officials said trains between the Vishwavidyalaya and Central Secretariat stations were running late, with several passengers complaining that the travel time from Vishwavidyalaya to GTB Nagar, which usually takes only a few minutes, was stretched to nearly 50 minutes because of the disruption.
"The train was moving at a slow pace and stopped for long durations. Many of us got late for office," said a commuter travelling towards Rajiv Chowk.
Another passenger heading to South Delhi added, "The crowd kept building up at every station. It was really frustrating because we could not even plan an alternative."
DMRC said a technical issue had caused the delay, but that it was rectified soon after.
"There might be some bunching of trains for some time. The services will be normal shortly," it said in a statement.
There might not be any respite from rain for the national capital and parts of North India, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting thunderstorm with rain on Friday.
While relative humidity recorded at 8.30 am stood at 92 per cent, the minimum temperature was recorded at 26.2 degrees Celsius, 0.3 degrees below normal, while the maximum is expected to settle around 34 degrees Celsius, the department said.
At around 8.30 am Friday, Safdarjung had logged 13.4 mm rainfall, Palam 6.2 mm, Lodhi Road 9.8 mm, Ridge 1.8 mm and Aya Nagar 29.3 mm, IMD stated.
Delhi's air quality index (AQI) stood in the 'moderate' category, with an AQI reading of 110 at 9 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) ticker.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 to 100 "satisfactory", 101 to 200 "moderate", 201 to 300 "poor", 301 to 400 "very poor" and 401 to 500 "severe".
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