Rain triggers morning traffic jams in Hanoi

Rain that began overnight and persisted into Monday morning brought cooler weather and widespread traffic congestion to Hanoi, disrupting commuters at the start of the workweek.

From 7 a.m. onward, Tran Duy Hung Street experienced heavy congestion as a surge of vehicles headed into the city center amid the rain. Long lines of traffic moved at a crawl, making it difficult for commuters to reach work.

According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, a cold air mass brought moderate to heavy rainfall, with some areas seeing thunderstorms. This weather system also caused a drop in temperatures across the capital city, bringing outdoor temperatures down to 20 degrees Celsius on Monday morning.

Motorbikes and cars crammed the roadway between the Thanh Xuan underpass and the Nguyen Chi Thanh-Tran Duy Hung intersection.

Traffic moved at a crawl at the Tran Duy Hung - Nguyen Chi Thanh overpass, coming to a full standstill at times.

The elevated Ring Road 3 was clear, while the ground-level road experienced heavy congestion, particularly at key intersections.

At 7:20 a.m., traffic stretched along Nguyen Trai Street toward the city center as vehicles slowly made their way through the rain.

The Ring Road 2-Nguyen Trai intersection has been a notorious rush-hour bottleneck since it first opened. Traffic frequently backs up from the junction onto the Nguyen Trai overpass and at two key U-turn points, triggering a multi-directional gridlock that brings movement to a near standstill.