Delhi-NCR: rains halt traffic, leaving people stranded

Heavy rains hit Gurugram on Tuesday, leading to the disruption of road traffic and paralysed normal life. With rains in other parts of the national capital on Tuesday morning, the minimum temperature settled at 26 degrees Celsius, the season's average.

Light rains started at around 2 a.m., but it gained momentum by 4 a.m. and between 6 to 8 a.m., it turned into heavy downpour said A.R.S. Sangwan, Deputy Director National Capital Region.

The Met Office predicted few spells of rains and thundershower to occur during the day. "There will be a generally cloudy sky during the day with moderate rainfall and thundershower likely to occur," an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 32.7 degrees Celsius. The humidity at 8.30 am was recorded 100 per cent. Monday's maximum temperature was recorded at 34.9 degrees Celsius, one notch above the season's average, while the minimum temperature settled at 26.5 degrees Celsius,the season's average.

The traffic movement on the Delhi-Jaipur-Mumbai highway was severely hit due to water logging, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Heera Singh.

"Our team is trying to make the traffic movement smoother," Singh added.