NEW DELHI: Ghaziabad has been witnessing continuous rainfall since Wednesday evening, triggering severe waterlogging in several areas, disrupting daily life, and slowing down traffic for morning commuters on Thursday. In Shastri Nagar, a submerged road led to major vehicular delays and panic among the commuters.
The authorities in Ghaziabad have ordered closure of schools up to Class 12 owing to the heavy rainfall. The District Magistrate (DM) issued the order keeping students’ safety in mind. Following the closure order, several schools advised students to remain indoors, stay safe, and make productive use of the day by completing their pending assignments.
The major areas affected in the city were Vijay Nagar, Indirapuram, Vaishali, Nehru Nagar, Sahibabad, Shastri Nagar, Siddharth Vihar, Bhopura, Mohan Nagar, Khora, Lal Kuan, Masuri, etc., where people were and roads and streets were seen filled with rainwater.
Traffic in the area was seen crawling throughout the morning with commuters struggling throughout day hours with bottlenecks at various points.
Commuters travelling from the city towards the capital and Meerut had a harrowing time as they complained of 3-4 hours of traffic jams on city roads.
“Though there are highways to commute, there was a long traffic jam everywhere since the early hours. The agencies should make proper arrangements to ensure smooth vehicular movements,” said Sapna Khandelwal, a resident from Indirapuram.
Heavy rainfall alert for all 75 UP dists, says IMD
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an “orange alert” for the region, signalling heavy rainfall over the region through most of the day. The IMD has issued a heavy rainfall alert for all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Ghaziabad.