Noida: Occupants of a car stranded in a flooded underpass in Sector 95 had to smash its windows to escape as water gushed inside and rose to the edge of the seats early on Monday, trapping a family of 10, including four children.The incident occurred around 4am when the family was returning to Bulandshahr after a child’s mundan ceremony at Sheetla Mata temple in Gurgaon. The car stalled midway through the underpass, leaving all 10 occupants trapped in 5ft of water that had accumulated inside the vehicle.Police said Neeraj, a resident of Chola village in Bulandshahr, was driving the Renault Triber carrying Krishna, Suraj, Dharmwati, Seema and Aarti, along with four children. The family had visited the Gurgaon temple on Sunday night for the mundan ceremony of Krishna and Seema’s one-year-old son.On their way back, they turned towards the underpass to refuel the car with CNG. In the darkness inside the underpass, the accumulated rainwater was difficult to gauge. Neeraj allegedly assumed it was only 2-3ft deep and drove in, but the vehicle stopped midway.Some women and children were asleep when the car stalled. They woke up as water entered the vehicle and rose above their waists. The pressure made opening the doors difficult, prompting Neeraj to use an iron rod to smash the window on his side and jump out.Two other occupants also managed to get out and tried to push the car towards the edge. The family was eventually evacuated safely after other windows were smashed.Fire brigade personnel and cops from Phase 1 police station reached the spot after receiving information. They used ropes to pull the stranded vehicle out. Videos of the rescue, showing personnel and others hauling the car through the water, were circulated on social media on Monday.The incident revived concerns around the city’s recurring drainage problems. In earlier spells of rain, roads in parts of the city have flooded, while waterlogging in Sector 62 has been linked to runoff from neighbouring Khoda’s overwhelming local drains. In Jan, the death of techie Yuvraj Mehta after his car plunged into a water-filled pit in Sector 150 also triggered scrutiny of road safety and warnings around waterlogged hazards.Noida Authority agreed that the subway under Mahamaya Flyover had been facing waterlogging since Jungle Trail park became operational in Dec last year. It attributed the problem to changes in the area’s natural slope during the park’s construction, which diverted rainwater towards the subway.“Due to the construction of Jungle Trail, the slope has been altered in a way that directs rainwater towards the subway. This has changed the landscape, resulting in a large volume of rainwater flowing into the subway during rainfall,” said Prem Sain, senior engineer in the Authority’s Jal department.Sain said a pumping set had already been installed to drain out stormwater. The Authority also served a notice on the Jungle Trail management and decided to install additional pumps to prevent a recurrence.
