Non-stop rain throws life out of gear in Noida and Ghaziabad

According to the latest update by the India Meteorological Department, Gautam Budh Nagar district recorded 15mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30am Friday, which was a whopping 689% more than the normal expected for this time of the year

Incessant heavy rain lashed Noida and Ghaziabad for the second consecutive day on Friday, throwing life out of gear in the two cities. Officials, however, maintained that the traffic situation and waterlogging concerns were largely under control on Friday.

Due to heavy rain, the Ghantaghar Ramlila ground in Ghaziabad was inundated on Friday. (Sakib Ali/ HT)

According to the latest update by the India Meteorological Department, Gautam Budh Nagar district recorded 15mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30am Friday, which was a whopping 689% more than the normal expected for this time of the year.

This is also the highest amount of rain received in a single day this year in Gautam Budh Nagar, said weather officials.

Even with continuous but light rainfall continuing throughout the day, unlike other parts of the National Capital Region (NCR), traffic was smooth in Noida on Friday, apart from the usual peak hour rush for about an hour near the Noida-Delhi Chilla border, Kalindi Kunj and Model Town crossing near Sector 62. However, traffic was cleared within an hour and regular movement was restored by 10am.

“There were some vehicles that broke down near the Chilla border, but we managed to get them removed quickly. We also kept commuters informed in real time through social media handles and Google updates and warnings,” said Ganesh Prasad Saha, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

Residents said that traffic was largely orderly due to the presence of traffic police personnel on the roads. “Unlike before, there were several traffic personnel on the roads who were busy regulating vehicular movement amid the rains. It made a huge difference as the roads are always blocked by traffic jams as soon as it rains. I hope residents also cooperate and follow the rules,” said Brajesh Sharma, a Sector 76 resident. Several other residents took to social media and posted pictures and thanked the Noida traffic police for averting traffic jams across the city.

Chander Bhatia, an investment professional who lives in Noida said, “With little rain Gurugram gets flooded while the traffic situation is extremely bad in Delhi. However, there is no such concern in Noida because it is more planned and has good roads. With better law and order, the city is definitely more livable than any other cities in the NCR.”

Meanwhile, waterlogging was reported in parts of Greater Noida.

Areas around Dadri-Kulesara road near Haldauni tiraha were inundated along with parts of Surajpur. The Amity University hostel in Greater Noida was also flooded. Residents said at some places in Sector Beta 1, small patches of a road caved in.

Greater Noida authority officials said they have initiated repair works. Basements of some housing societies also got inundated and pumps were used to drain out the water.

Officials from the water department said that over 20 water suction pumps have been kept on a standby.

On the brighter side, pollution levels have been consistently low and the air quality in Noida and Greater Noida has been in the ‘satisfactory’ category since Thursday. Greater Noida recorded an AQI of 51 on Thursday and 52 on Friday. In Noida, the AQI was 66 on Thursday and 64 on Friday.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate ordered that all government and private schools up to Class 8 will also remain shut on Saturday (September 24) in view of the incessant rains.

The IMD forecast for Saturday said, “There will be an overcast sky with moderate rain and thundershowers at most places across Gautam Budh Nagar. Heavy rainfall is also likely at one or two places.”

Across parts of western UP, very heavy to heavy rainfall is likely on Saturday as well. District magistrate Suhas LY said that all government departments have been asked to stay on alert in case of any emergency situation.

Meanwhile, officials of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation said that the rainfall has been heavy for the past two days and they have deployed teams and also roped in water pumps to pull out stagnant water.

The heavy rain led to widespread waterlogging in many localities and major roads such as the Grand Trunk (GT) Road stretch leading to Mohan Nagar, the Gaushala underpass, Vijay Nagar and others such as Ahimsa Khand phase 2 and Sucheta Kriplani Marg in Indirapuram locality.

“The downpour began on Thursday and it rained heavily during the night and also on Friday afternoon. This led to heavy waterlogging in Ahimsa Khand-2 and Sucheta Kriplani Marg, among other pockets in Indirapuram. Due to waterlogged low-lying stretches near the New Bus Adda Metro station on GT Road, there were heavy traffic jams till Mohan Nagar,” said BK Pandey, a resident of Vaishali. A visit by the HT team also found that the Gaushala underpass and the River Hindon Metro station underpass completely submerged in water, while commuters toiled hard to push their vehicles through the waterlogged areas.

“Our personnel remained deployed throughout the day to ease traffic on roads and even on highways. Commuters, in order to avoid such waterlogged stretches, also move haphazardly. So, all these issues created traffic snarls,” said Kamlesh Narayan Pandey, circle officer (Ghaziabad traffic police).

On the other hand, the rain also played spoilsport and hampered the start of Ramlila celebrations across the city.

There was heavy waterlogging in Ramlila grounds across Ghaziabad and many of the associations also postponed their events that were scheduled to start on Thursday.

“A ‘Ganesh shobha yatra’ was scheduled on Thursday but it was postponed due to heavy rain throughout the day. Now, we have decided to start the Ramlila celebrations from September 27 with the event of ‘Ram Barat.’ The entire Ramlila ground is submerged in water and the stalls are in a bad shape,” said Vinit Sharma, a member of Sri Ramlila Samiti, Raj Nagar.

“The materials that the stall owners had brought were drenched in water and they suffered losses. Even the material used for making effigies of Ravan, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad, got spoiled. We will now be rescheduling our programmes even though we started our preparations about a couple of months back,” Sharma added.

The Ramlila festivities across the city are being held after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We will also be reviewing our programmes on a daily basis till the weather improves. The rain has been heavy and our ground was completely submerged in water. We are trying to pull out water with the help of tankers from the municipal corporation. The Ramlila performance was to start on Thursday, but we were forced to reschedule it for Saturday. It is due to the heavy rains that celebrations have hit a roadblock, otherwise our preparations were complete,” said Tarun Chotani, a member of a Ramlila Samiti in Kavi Nagar .

Officials of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation said that they have deployed several teams who are working round the clock to clear off waterlogged areas.

“Teams are moving with equipment to pump out water in different areas, while some personnel have also been deployed to clear garbage which got stuck up in major drains. Due to the heavy rains, most of the city drains are witnessing heavy flow. Our teams are also helping the Ramlila samitis across the city to clear the waterlogged grounds so that events can start immediately once the rain stops,” said Mithilesh Kumar, corporation’s health officer. The Ramlila events are held across the city in Raj Nagar, Kavi Nagar, Sahibabad, Indirapuram, Vijay Nagar, etc.