LUCKNOW, Aug. 8 -- A brief spell of afternoon rain on Thursday brought traffic in the city to a halt, causing hours-long congestion and disrupting daily life. The jams continued till late evening, with commuters stuck on key roads and police personnel stepping in to manage traffic manually. The state capital remained cloudy, and a rainfall of 1.2mm was recorded on Thursday. Long tailbacks were reported from Hazratganj, Gomti Nagar, Polytechnic crossing, Kamta crossing, Alambagh, and Shaheed Path. Waterlogging in low-lying pockets and poor drainage compounded the situation. Several commuters pointed to signal failures and unruly driving as contributing factors. "Most of our staff were deployed to handle the jams. We had to manually control traffic as the smart signals were not functioning at several crossings," a senior traffic officer said. The movement of emergency services was also affected. In parts of Gomti Nagar and near Lohia Path, ambulances were seen stuck in traffic with sirens blaring. According to senior meteorologist Atul Kumar Singh, heavy rain may return in parts of the state from August 8. Rainfall may briefly ease on August 9 and 10, but could intensify again from August 11....