Incessant rain brings down temperature by 10 degrees in Noida

Incessant rain for the last couple of days across the National capital region (NCR) brought down the temperature in Noida by almost 10 degrees over the weekend

Incessant rain for the last couple of days across the National capital region (NCR) brought down the temperature in Noida by almost 10 degrees over the weekend.

Commuters wade through a heavily waterlogged stretch in Noida on Sunday. (Sunil Ghosh/ HT)

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) also issued an ‘orange’ alert regarding heavy to very heavy rain, thunderstorm and lightning in western Uttar Pradesh and asked authorities to stay alert for Monday.

According to the IMD, rainfall at isolated places can be expected till Tuesday. Both Noida and Ghaziabad recorded a maximum temperature of around 24 degrees Celsius, about 10 degrees below normal and a minimum temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius. Till Sunday morning, Noida recorded 25mm rainfall while Ghaziabad recorded 28.5mm rainfall.

Amid the heavy rains, a large portion of a road caved in near an under-construction residential building in Sector 1 of Greater Noida West. According to the Greater Noida authority officials, excessive digging to construct a basement in the residential building by the developers and the incessant rains led to the caving in of the road.

Officials said that Greater Noida authority chief executive officer (CEO) Ritu Maheshwari has formed a team to look into the matter and sent officials to the spot within an hour of the incident on Sunday morning.

“We barricaded the entire area and traffic was diverted to other routes. Authorities of work circle-3 have also been instructed to send a notice to the builder mentioning that a penalty will be imposed based on the cost of road filling and repair work,” said Salil Yadav, general manager (projects), Noida authority.

Officials said that three earthmovers, five dumpers and other equipment have been deployed at the site to finish repair work at the earliest.

Praised by residents last month for its infrastructure during a 48-hour rain spell, Noida also witnessed waterlogging in some areas on Saturday, mostly around the underpasses across the city. A Noida authority official informed that two pumps were deployed to suck out the water and clear the underpasses.

Other residents also complained of water getting into homes and basements of high-rises getting inundated. Several residents from Logix Blossom County posted photos and videos of flooded basement on social media and sought assistance from officials. Water also entered some houses in old sectors such as 27 and 21.

Kush Aggarwal, a resident of Sector 16 said, “Even after repeated complaints, there has been no proper drainage in Sector 16 and neighbouring areas. This leads to waterlogging every time it rains, but the authority is not resolving the matter.”

Interestingly, most of the waterlogging in the city was seen at the Surajpur collectorate, which is the office of the district magistrate and other senior district administration officials.

However, incessant rainfall in the last couple of days had a positive impact on the air quality as pollution levels dipped drastically and the AQI stayed in the ‘good’ category.

On Sunday, the AQI was 14 in Ghaziabad, 23 in Greater Noida and 55 in Noida. According to a forecast by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality is likely to remain largely in the ‘satisfactory’ to ‘moderate’ category over the next six days.

“The overall air quality in Delhi-NCR is likely to be in the ‘good’ category on Sunday owing to good rainfall activities and strong easterly winds. Air quality is likely to remain in ‘good’ to ‘satisfactory’ category on Monday and ‘satisfactory’ category on Tuesday and Wednesday,” the CPCB forecast said.

Despite rainfall since Saturday, no major traffic jam was reported in the city, though some usual spots saw congestion. A large pothole was also created along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway near Sector 137, leading to traffic congestion.

Minor traffic jams were also witnessed near some of the underpasses on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and near Sector 62 due to waterlogging.

Ganesh Prasad Saha, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) said his department took swift action to ensure that there were no jams. “We kept our social media handles updated and sent regular alerts. There was also sufficient deployment of personnel and we also ensured to quickly move aside vehicles that broke down along main roads,” he said.

DCP Saha added that since the rains happened over the weekend, the traffic volume was lower, except near Parthala Chowk, Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway and Sector 62-Model Town Crossing.

Most roads in neighbouring Ghaziabad also witnessed slow movement of vehicles due to the incessant rain on Sunday. Traffic jams were witnessed around Hapur-Meerut Road, Mohan Nagar, GT Road and Ghantaghar Road.