Monsoon arrives in Delhi, brings traffic snarls and commuter woes with it

The long-awaited monsoon arrived in the national capital on Tuesday bringing with it waterlogged roads, traffic snarls in parts of the city and the familiar sight of snaking lines of vehicles stuck for interminable minutes.

Many officer-goers reported late for office and several people posted their plight through videos and photographs on social media, some seeking help from police.

There was heavy traffic at Dhaula Kuan with one commuter complaining he was stuck for almost 90 minutes (and counting), Azadpur and at the Delhi Cantt and Kalindi Kunj flyovers among other places.

"Azadpur was totally blocked. I was stuck there for 50 minutes while I was going to meet a client regarding a case. I somehow managed to make my way," said Rahul Tomar, an advocate who was going from Shahdara in east Delhi to the Rohini court.

Mukesh Shrivastav, who commutes from Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi to ITO, also reached office late.

I was coming from Laxmi Nagar to ITO. Generally, it takes around 15 minutes to reach my destination. Today, it took me double the time. The same thing happened to my colleague, said Shrivastava.

The southwest monsoon brought respite from the scorching heat with weather officials saying it was 16 days behind the usual date, making it the most delayed in 19 years.

Normally, the monsoon reaches Delhi by June 27 and covers the entire country by July 8. Last year, the wind system had reached the capital on June 25 and covered the entire country by June 29.

The IMD had earlier said the monsoon would hit Delhi on June 15, which would have been 12 days early, but the wind system entered a "break" phase.