NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: A three-year-old girl died after allegedly slipping into rainwater accumulated on a street outside her home in Ghaziabad on Thursday.Heavy monsoon rain battered Noida and adjoining Ghaziabad, triggering widespread waterlogging, traffic chaos, a road cave-in and the closure of government schools, news agency PTI reported.The child, identified as Pallavi, reportedly slipped near an overflowing roadside drain while stepping outside her house.“The roadside drain was full of water; it was overflowing. Suddenly, her foot slipped. She fell right there. She died instantly,” her father, Sumit Kumar, said.Assistant commissioner of police (Vijayanagar) Upasana Pandey said police had registered the incident and assured the family that appropriate legal and departmental action would be taken.“We will inspect the site and initiate the necessary action. The concerned department has assured that due process will be followed,” she said.The tragedy unfolded as relentless rainfall disrupted normal life across Noida and Ghaziabad, exposing gaps in civic infrastructure and monsoon preparedness.
Road caves in, vehicles plunge into pit
In one of the most dramatic incidents, a section of a residential road in Vasundhara Sector 13, Ghaziabad, collapsed beside an under-construction basement, sending a parked car and a scooter crashing into a large pit. A nearby electricity pole also tilted towards the crater.No injuries were reported, but both vehicles were extensively damaged.Vehicle owner Ajay Agrawal alleged that a builder had excavated nearly 20 feet for a basement without adequate safety measures.According to him, continuous rain weakened the ground, causing the road to cave in around 8am, PTI reported.He has lodged a complaint with the Indirapuram police, seeking action against the builder, improved safety arrangements at the construction site and compensation for the damage caused to his vehicles.
Waterlogging paralyses traffic
Heavy rain inundated several parts of Noida, with Sectors 16, 33 and 12 among the worst affected. Knee-deep water was reported at several locations, making it difficult for pedestrians and two-wheeler riders to move.Several motorcycles and scooters stalled after water entered their exhaust systems, forcing commuters to push their vehicles through flooded roads. In some places, residents were seen walking along roadside dividers to cross submerged stretches.Traffic moved at a crawl during the morning rush hour, particularly around the Botanical Garden area, where long queues of vehicles were reported.A police officer said personnel were deployed at key junctions to regulate traffic and minimise congestion.In Sector 63, the boundary wall of a company collapsed due to the heavy rain. No injuries were reported.
Schools shut, residents question monsoon preparedness
With rain continuing through the day, the Ghaziabad district administration declared a holiday in government schools.Residents blamed poor drainage and inadequate civic maintenance for the widespread flooding.Shalini Singh, executive chairperson of the NGO Noida Citizen Forum, said the rainfall had once again exposed shortcomings in the Noida Authority’s monsoon preparedness.“When a little rain brings the city to a standstill, it is not merely a natural disaster but an administrative failure,” she said, demanding greater accountability, transparency in drainage-related contracts and action against officials responsible for lapses.(With agency inputs)
