Comfort in the air, chaos on roads

Noida/Ghaziabad: Heavy pre-monsoon showers lashed parts of Noida and Ghaziabad on Monday, bringing the mercury down by several notches. The respite from the intense heatwave conditions, recorded over the past few weeks, however, was tempered by the inconvenience caused due to waterlogging and power outages. As the downpour left fallen trees strewn on arterial roads, traffic jams were also reported on several roads in the two districts.
In Ghaziabad, traffic movement was affected on Hapur-Meerut Road, Mohan Nagar, GT Road and Ghantaghar Road and several other areas, while people travelling via the Meerut Tiraha Road remained stranded for more than an hour due to rain and the ongoing Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) work. In GB Nagar, vehicular movement near Parthala roundabout, Sector 62 and Tilapta Road was snail-slow for several hours in the morning with the areas reporting flooding and several tree fall incidents.
“Our control room was inundated with calls of traffic jams in the morning. Teams were dispatched to Tilapta Road, where an uprooted tree had blocked the road. With the help of the Noida Authority, an iron barrier that had collapsed at Parthala roundabout was also removed,” Ganesh Prasad Saha, DCP (traffic) said, adding that cops used Google Map to track, clear and issue advisories on traffic jams.
In Ghaziabad, people complained about the poor drainage system that led to intense waterlogging in parts of the district. Indirapuram-resident Rakesh Sharma said the few hours of rain had flooded several arterial streets. “My office is situated in the Sihani Gate area. While it takes me about 30 minutes to reach office, today it took me over an hour. Several commuters were also stuck at the Meerut Tiraha Road for hours. The handful of traffic cops deputed at the area were seen struggling to manage the situation,” Sharma added.
Over 30 tree fall cases
Monday’s downpour accompanied by gusty winds also left over 30 trees uprooted in GB Nagar, while falling branches damaged some vehicles parked beneath them. Several electricity poles too fell flat in parts of the city — in Sector 51 and Sector Beta 2 — causing power outages.
Sanjeev Kumar, general secretary of Sector 51’s residents’ welfare association (RWA), said an uprooted tree took down an electricity pole in the area leading to a 12-hour outage in the area.
Indu Prakash, an officer on special duty (OSD), Noida Authority, said 10-15 trees fell in Noida alone while around 100 branches were broken. “The horticulture department staff trimmed the broken branches and removed the fallen trees. There was no injury to any person on Monday,” he said.
Gaurav Baghel, assistant manager of the horticulture department in Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, meanwhile, said their teams replanted some uprooted trees and removed others that were completely rooted out. “We will plant new trees at those places. In several areas, branches had fallen due to the rain,” Baghel said. According to the official, if the top root is intact then a mound can be built around an uprooted tree and it can be saved.
Over 10mm rain in 2 hours
The maximum temperature plummeted sharply in the twin cities on Monday bringing munch needed respite from the heatwave conditions recorded over the past few weeks. On Monday, Noida recorded 30.1 degrees Celsius maximum temperature while the minimum temperature was 19.3 degrees. This is at least 10 notches down from Sunday’s maximum temperature of 40.7 degrees and a minimum of 23.8 degrees. On May 16, the city’s maximum temperature had touched 47.1 degrees.
Ghaziabad, meanwhile, saw a maximum of 28 degrees and a minimum of 18 degrees on the day.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) senior scientist RK Jenamani said the temperature was likely to dip further in the next few days. “The sky will remain cloudy and Noida and Ghaziabad will witness drizzling over the next few days. The temperature will fall further and rise to 40 degrees Celsius from May 30 onwards,” he said.
According to the IMD data, 8-11 mm rainfall was recorded in Noida and Ghaziabad between 7.30am and 9.30am on Monday on Monday. “Thundershower with moderate intensity rain and gusty winds with speed of 60-90 km/h would continue to occur over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and NCR,” the IMD tweeted.