Heavy rain throws lives out of gear in Noida, Ghaziabad
GHAZIABAD/NOIDA: Ghaziabad was a watery mess on Saturday as roads got inundated, residents grappled to flush out water from their homes, commuters struggled to push their broken-down vehicles through waterlogged stretches and long traffic jams suffocated major roads as the city received one of its heaviest showers this monsoon. Noida too received its fair share of high rainfall that left several roads waterlogged.
The high intensity rainfall in both the cities led to water logging, traffic snarls and jams at several places.
Vinay Gautam, who lives in a ground-floor house in Valmiki Kunj near Patel Nagar II in Ghaziabad, watched helplessly as rainwater started entering his house since early morning. “There was one-and-a-half foot water in my home. We couldn’t even flush out the water since the roads were already waterlogged,” said Gautam.
Heavy rain, coupled with a road cave-in near Shipra Shrishti high-rise in Indirapuram, forced most residents to stay indoors.
“There was heavy waterlogging near Shipra Sun City, Ahimsa Khand II, Vaibhav Khand and other areas. Moreover, there was a major road cave-in near Shipra Shrishti high-rise, that was more than 10-12ft wide. We informed the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) but no one responded till 10am,” said Alok Kumar, a resident of Arihant Harmony in Ahimsa Khand II, Indirapuram.
A K Chaudhary, executive engineer from GDA, said several teams were deployed in Indirapuram. “We also roped in jetting machines to flush out water. The caved-in road was barricaded, and repair will start once rain stops,” said Chaudhary.
As heavy rainfall lashed Ghaziabad till Saturday evening, dozens
of vehicles broke down on major roads like the Link Road, GT Road and Meerut Road due to heavy waterlogging.
Vijay Nagar resident Pradeep Kumar took about an hour to cover a distance of about 7km from Crossings Republik to Kavi Nagar. “There was more than 1ft water at Lal Kuan intersection. When I tried passing through the industrial areas, they too were heavily waterlogged. Besides, many vehicles broke down and that compounded traffic,” said Kumar.
“We had to deploy all of our eight towing vans since early morning to tow the vehicles which broke down at Bhopra, Mohan Nagar, Arthala, Meerut tri-junction and other places. Our personnel were on the roads throughout the day to streamline traffic and remove snarls,” said Ramanand Kushwaha, superintendent of police (traffic).
“Due to heavy rain, we implemented the plan we rolled out in August to tackle waterlogging in different areas. Different teams headed by our officers were
deployed across the city to flush out water from waterlogged stretches. It will take some time for the water levels to recede,” said Ghaziabad municipal commissioner M S Tanwar.
In Noida, the worst affected areas were Labour Chowk, the underpass at Mamura metro bridge in Sector 61, parts of Sectors 51, 62, 72, 75, 76, Barola and the underpass at Sector 18.
“Traffic was moving very slowly. The worst affected area was the stretch from Said Temple to Parthala Chowk, from where we had to reroute vehicles through Gadhi road,” said an official from the Noida traffic police.
“We installed pumps and deployed workers to flush out water from inundated roads. By evening, most of such waterlogged areas were cleared,” said an official from the Noida authority, requesting anonymity.
Residents said there was no improvement in the authority’s approach to solve the perennial issue of waterlogging. Amit Gupta, a resident of Noida’s Sector
77 and a social worker said, “The Noida authority takes up works that requires digging at roadside. At Sector 77, there are big craters, which have been dug to maintain pipes, which have been left open and are filled with water.”
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ghaziabad district recorded 26.6mm rainfall on Saturday. So far, since June 1, the district has received total 267.7mm rain against the normal of 491.9mm.
Noida received 31mm rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Saturday, taking the city’s overall rainfall to 187mm against the average precipitation of 491.7 mm.
R K Jenamani, a senior scientist at IMD said, “The region may see another spell of rainfall on Sunday... but later, the intensity will drop. There is a low pressure area over eastern Rajasthan that is causing the rainfall in the region. It’s effect will eventually wear out. However, the low intensity light rains may continue beyond Sunday.”
According to weather experts, monsoon will remain active in the region as another low pressure area is also developing. “There is a fresh low pressure area developing in north-east Bay of Bengal and this is likely to reach Odisha by tomorrow (Sunday). This will lead to further rains in central and northwest India from September 16 onwards,” Dr M Mohapatra, director general of meteorology, IMD.
Man struck by lightning in Gzb, dies
A 22-year-old man, identified as Guddu, died after lightning struck him at a pond in Ghaziabad’s Dasna around 2pm on Saturday. “The man had gone fishing at a pond, when lightning struck him. He suffered severe burn injuries and died on the spot,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of rural police.
He added his friends Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Salim also suffered burns, but they were discharged after primary treatment.