Moderate to heavy rains lashed the national Capital and adjoining areas of Noida and Ghaziabad on Wednesday as Delhiites witnessed severe waterlogging and traffic snarls across the city with breakdown of buses and potholes making matters worse for commuters.

Commuters and office goers complained of traffic jams in several places of cities amid the Indian Meteorological Department describing the weather as ‘generally cloudy sky with light to moderate rain thundershowers accompanied with gusty winds’.

Parts of Delhi-NCR, including India Gate, Janpath Road, R K Puram, Kalindikunj, Gazipur, Noida, Indirapuram, Laxmi Nagar, Dwarka, Connaught Place, Noida, Safdarjung, Uttam Nagar, East of Kailash and Rohini witnessed light to moderate showers.

A working professional was left frustrated after he covered five kilometers in 40 to 50 minutes. “Every single time it rains in Delhi, traffic management goes for a toss. I had to spend hours in my car and got late for my office when I was travelling from Delhi University side to Vidhan Sabha,” he said.

A severe traffic jam was also witnessed on Sarita Vihar Mathura Road with the movement of vehicles on Mathura Road coming to a standstill. “Traffic jams are a major problem for office workers, causing delays despite high costs for alternatives like cabs or bikes. Heavy rain worsens the situation with waterlogging and underpass flooding,” an officer goer said.

Another one added that the lack of effective drainage and road maintenance leads to significant delays, making what should be a 30-minute commute extend to 1.5 to two hours. “Even emergencies like ambulances get stuck in traffic,” he said.

Waterlogging was reported in several areas in the city including the famous ITO junction amid a yellow alert from the India Meteorology Department (IMD) which was issued on Tuesday by the officials of the met department. It was informed that on Wednesday, light to moderate rainfall would lash Delhi.

A change in the temperature has also been experienced bringing respite from two days of humidity to the residents. However, vehicular movements at several places were reported to be slow while some junctions reported heavy traffic chaos.

Delhi has already crossed 1000 mm of rainfall this year with the year yet to end. The weather scientist earlier said that there is an active western disturbance which is in turn bringing so much rain to the national capital.