Noida: A day after Noida International Airport’s walkway was flooded due to rainfall, embarrassing a project that prides itself on Swiss perfection, two travelators and a lift inside the underground passage connecting the taxi stand with the terminal malfunctioned because of seepage.The walkway has not been officially closed, but remained largely deserted on Wednesday as restoration work was underway. A visit to the airport showed that the area which had been waterlogged a day earlier had dried.An engineer supervising the restoration work said the airport was new and such issues were being addressed as they emerged. “All airports face teething problems, which are fixed as they are identified. We found that heavy rainfall caused stormwater to reach the walkway. We have decided to redesign the landscaping and increase the height of the kerbs so that rainwater does not reach the walkway. Since the lawns are green and not concrete, they will absorb some of the rainwater,” he said. Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh said the authorities are also considering widening the drainage shaft.An airport staff member said heavy rain began around 1 pm on Tuesday, following which stormwater from the lawn surface flowed down the sloping section into the underground passage. “The staff used motor pumps to remove the water,” he said.The drainage shaft — roughly one foot wide and about 30 feet long — was designed to collect and carry away surface runoff. However, during the intense spell of rain, it was unable to handle and discharge the volume of water entering the passage. The design had foreseen this possibility, but not adequately. Staff were working to restore the travelators and lift, with repairs expected to take another one to two days.Following the waterlogging, taxi services that were earlier located across the road have been shifted to the kerbside area of the terminal. Passengers exiting the terminal can now access premium taxis and app-based cabs from the kerbside instead of using the underground walkway.Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Jammu who arrived in Noida on Wednesday, said the flight and airport services were good and there was no waterlogging during his visit.“Based on preliminary findings, waterlogging in an underpass near the airport car park occurred during an intense rainfall, when rainwater carrying soil from an adjacent area hampered the drainage of water from the underpass. Airport teams responded promptly, clearing the water in under 30 minutes. To avoid any inconvenience to guests, an alternate route was provided for smooth and uninterrupted passenger movement. As part of the follow-up measures, the airport is reviewing the landscaping of areas adjacent to the underpass to further improve drainage during heavy rainfall,” an airport official said.
