New Delhi: Rain lashed parts of the city around 2pm Tuesday, triggering traffic congestion across several key corridors that continued till the evening rush hour. By 4pm, queues of vehicles started building up, affecting traffic for hours on key stretches, including Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, Noida Link Road, parts of Ring Road, and key stretches in south Delhi.Since the rain started around peak school hours, traffic on nearby roads slowed down. Navigation apps showed heavy congestion on stretches of Ring Road, particularly near Ashram, while slow-moving traffic and waterlogging were also reported near Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar.Traffic police reported congestion on several arterial roads through the evening as waterlogging and peak-hour traffic combined to choke these stretches. Congestion was reported around ITO, parts of Ring Road, Mathura Road and near AIIMS. Delhi Traffic Police flagged disruptions on social media along with travel instructions.Commuters described being stranded for long periods. “Massive traffic snarl in south Delhi, from Saket to beyond Chirag Dilli crossing. Stuck for 90 minutes, and it rained with some force for only 30 minutes,” Rajeev, a commuter, said soon after the rain.Arjun, who was travelling from Vasundhara Enclave to Connaught Place, said, “I left around 2.10pm, but was stuck for nearly 40 minutes as a vehicle broke down and blocked a lane. School buses added to the congestion, and waterlogging at several points on Noida Link Road slowed traffic to a crawl,” he said, adding that it took him nearly 80 minutes to reach CP. The traffic police reported waterlogging at Murga Mandi in Ghazipur, disrupting traffic in the east Delhi area.The impact was also felt on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. A long tailback developed beyond Rajiv Chowk towards the Jaipur-bound carriageway on NH-48, with vehicles moving bumper-to-bumper for several kilometres. By 7pm, it resulted into a long jam. Frustrated commuters took to social media to share pictures and videos.One commuter posted, “Heavy rain in Gurgaon. Traffic starts building up on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway (NH-48).” Another wrote, “From Kherki Daula toll to Rajiv Chowk, it’s a sea of traffic. Delhi-Jaipur Highway is gridlocked for several kilometres, with thousands of vehicles stuck for hours. Is this the city’s preparedness for the rain?”The situation worsened as a road caved in due to the rain around Narsinghpur village near NH-48, said officials. By 6pm, the traffic from Delhi was diverted through Mahipalpur and Dwarka Expressway to handle the mess.Sharing visuals from northwest Delhi’s Pitampura, a traveller wrote, “Just 30 minutes of rain and Delhi traffic is behaving like this.”For commuters travelling from ITO towards central Noida in the evening, a journey that typically takes around 45 minutes or about an hour during peak traffic showed an estimated travel time of nearly 90 minutes. For some, even the travel to east Delhi from ITO took close to an hour. “Heavy traffic from Geeta Colony towards Noida. There is no T-junction or roundabout near Akshardham, so why is there a traffic jam on a straight road,” a commuter wondered. One user posted that the entire stretch from ITO to NH-24, connecting to Delhi-Meerut Expressway, was witnessing a massive jam.Social media users also reported long snarls on Abul Fazal Road in Okhla and Radhakrishnan Marg in Chanakyapuri.