Delhi-NCR rain disaster: 7-year-old drowns in flooded plot, road collapses, car falls into ditch | Today’s news

Incessant monsoon rain lashed parts of the Delhi Capital Region (NCR) on Thursday, causing massive waterlogging, traffic jams, collapsed residential buildings, multiple deaths and even a road collapse that plunged a parked car and a scooter into a pit. An orange alert has been issued for several areas of the NCR, including Ghaziabad, Noida, Meerut and Gurugram.

In one of the most tragic rain-related incidents, a seven-year-old boy drowned in a waterlogged vacant plot in Delhi’s Samaypur Badli.

Police said the vacant plot was filled with rainwater after two days of continuous rain. The child is said to have reached the flooded area, wandered into the deeper part and drowned.

Quick answers to key questions

•5 QUESTIONS

In Delhi-NCR, heavy monsoon rain has led to many tragedies, including the drowning of a seven-year-old boy in a flooded plot and the collapse of residential buildings, resulting in deaths.

Waterlogging is a recurring problem in Gurugram due to inadequate civic infrastructure and lack of effective year-round drainage planning, as highlighted in a survey by LocalCircles.

Incessant rains caused a part of the road in Ghaziabad to cave in and damaged parked vehicles. The collapse was caused by insufficient safety measures during construction.

Yes, residents should prepare for flooding during the monsoon season due to the area’s historical vulnerability to heavy rains and subsequent waterlogging.

Authorities have deployed teams from the Gurugram Municipal Corporation to clear waterlogged roads and manage traffic in response to the chaos caused by the recent heavy rains.

The family became concerned after his younger brother returned home, but Rehan did not. When he did not return after a long time, his relatives started searching for him and alerted the police.

“My son went for nature’s call in the morning. When he did not return for a long time, we informed our relatives and started searching for him,” the mother told PTI.

She said the family later found Rehan’s bottle on the stone border of the flooded property.

“When we saw the bottle lying on the stone fence, we were afraid that something was wrong. My brother-in-law and other family members searched for water. The land was filled with rainwater and my son was found in a pit on the land. If it had not been filled with water, my son would be alive today,” said the grieving mother.

Read also | Gurugram waterlogged: 92% residents rate civic preparedness as ‘poor’

Roads caved in, vehicles damaged in Ghaziabad

In another incident, a portion of the road in Ghaziabad’s Vasundhara Sector 13 caved in next to an under-construction basement, sending a parked car and a scooter into a pit. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Ajay Agrawal, whose vehicles were damaged in the incident, said they were parked in front of his residence where he lives with his brother Pushkar Singh, a former chief engineer of the Awas Vikas Parishad.

Agrawal alleged that the builder had dug a nearly 20-feet deep basement without taking adequate safety measures. He claimed that the incessant rains caused part of the road to cave in around 8 a.m., taking parked vehicles with it.

Read also | Monsoon mayhem in Gurugram: Roads cave in, school bus partially submerged | Watch

He said the builder later arranged for a crane to pick up the vehicles. Agrawal added that he has lodged a complaint with the Indirapuram police station seeking legal action against the builder, improved safety measures at the construction site and compensation for damage to his vehicles.

Waterlogging disrupts movement in Noida

The heavy rain also caused severe waterlogging in several parts of Noida, including sectors 16, 33 and 12. Knee-deep water was reported in some areas, making movement difficult for pedestrians and two-wheelers.

Read also | Weather today LIVE: Rain-related incidents kill 5 in UP

Meanwhile, the death toll in a residential building collapse in Rohini has risen to three. A building collapsed in Delhi’s Rohini on Wednesday afternoon, trapping eight people under the debris.

While the downpour brought widespread disruption, it also provided relief from the heat and significantly improved Delhi’s air quality. The rainfall helped the capital record its cleanest air since September 2023, with some parts of the city receiving more than 160mm of rain.

(With inputs from news agencies)