Noida/Ghaziabad: The first widespread monsoon showers of the season were enough to expose familiar cracks in the civic fabric of Noida and Ghaziabad on Tuesday. Within hours, roads turned into pools, traffic ground to a crawl, commuters remained stranded in kilometre-long tailbacks and residents were once again asking why a few hours of rain continue to overwhelm cities that promise world-class infrastructure.Between 8.30am and 2.30pm, IMD recorded 45mm of rainfall in Noida and 16mm in Ghaziabad. Though the rainfall was moderate, its impact was anything but. There was waterlogging across major roads, residential sectors and key junctions.One of the most alarming incidents was reported from Greater Noida, where a 10-year-old boy fell into an open manhole near Yatharth Hospital while walking with his mother. He was rescued by an enforcement team that happened to be passing by.
Waterlogging at Greater Noida Alpha 1
“We heard the mother raising an alarm and rushed to the spot. The boy was pulled out safely. He was covered in sewage sludge but fortunately suffered only minor injuries,” said Rajesh Mohan, ARTO (enforcement).Residents alleged the manhole had remained uncovered for a long time despite the onset of the monsoon.The rain also crippled traffic across Noida. The Sector 18 underpass emerged as one of the worst-hit stretches after a truck broke down in the middle of the flooded carriageway, trapping commuters travelling from Film City towards sectors 27 and 60 for nearly an hour until police removed the vehicle. Traffic came to a crawl near Sector 37, Botanical Garden, Sector 62 and Lotus 300 in Sector 107, where vehicles negotiated waterlogged roads.
Gaushala underpass submerged
Greater Noida witnessed similar scenes. Water accumulated across Alpha 1, Delta roundabout, the Alpha commercial belt and the road near GNIDA office, disrupting movement in both residential and commercial areas.“We repeatedly asked authorities to clean drains before monsoon, but nothing changed. Every year, the same roads go under water,” said Alpha 1 resident Alok Singh.
Intense waterlogging in Sector 62
Residents from Noida sectors 63, 105 and 122 also blamed clogged drains and poor maintenance for recurring flooding. In Sector 105, overflowing drains flooded internal roads and raised concerns over water accumulating around electricity transformers. Residents warned that submerged underground cables had caused prolonged outages during last year’s monsoon and feared a repeat if immediate preventive measures were not taken.In Ghaziabad, the Gaushala underpass was once again submerged, with children seen swimming in the accumulated rainwater despite the civic body’s pre-monsoon preparedness claims. “This underpass floods every monsoon despite repeated assurances. People have even drowned here in the past, yet the problem keeps returning,” said local shopkeeper Singehshwar Dayal.
Traffic jam at Chilla Border following rain
The civic body had earlier identified 55 waterlogging hotspots, including Lal Kuan, Vijay Nagar, UP Gate along NH-9, and underpasses at Gaushala, Hindon metro station, Arthala and Vijay Nagar, besides Bhopura Chowk, Sahibabad, Rajendra Nagar, Patel Nagar, Makanpur and Swarn Jayanti Park in Indirapuram.Traffic was also affected near the Ghaziabad Namo Bharat station, where commuters, particularly two-wheeler riders, took shelter under a shed during the rain, narrowing the carriageway and slowing traffic.A GMC official said quick response teams cleared waterlogging from areas such as Surya Nagar and Govindpuram.
