17-05-2025
150 trees down, cars crushed: City sees 30 mins of mayhem
Noida: A roof was torn off a kiosk, plaster ripped from a building, and several trees and power poles were uprooted as a powerful storm and rain battered the city for over 30 minutes late on Saturday afternoon.
Around 150 tree collapse incidents were reported from sectors 27, 53, 19 and 20. Twenty power and traffic poles were also uprooted, disrupting traffic movement in several stretches. Near DM Chowk in Sector 27, a traffic pole collapsed on a car, crushing its roof. Videos circulating on social media show motorists halt, duck, and cross the broken pole blocking the road.
"The wind was strong and caused the pole to collapse.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported. We removed the damaged pole, and the driver (of the Kia Seltos) managed to drive the car home. At present, we are managing traffic manually at this crossing and have informed the Noida Authority to replace the pole," said Surendra Singh, traffic sub-inspector.
In Sector 27, a tree fell outside Kailash Hospital, blocking the road in front of the facility. The hospital staff and traffic police worked together to clear the obstruction.
Another tree was uprooted near Film City in Sector 16, affecting traffic movement towards Sector 18.
Videos shared on X showed the roof of a kiosk in Sector 151 being ripped off and blown away in the storm. In Greater Noida West, a large chunk of the plaster collapsed from the 22nd floor of a condominium, Ajnara Homes, during the rain and crashed on a car parked below, severely damaging it. Dinkar Pandey, a resident of the society, told TOI that the incident happened around 5 pm after a strong storm hit.
"A large block of plaster from a concrete joint between towers I and J on the 22nd floor collapsed on a Honda Amaze parked in the surface parking area below. The chunk came down with a loud crash, triggering fear among residents," Pandey said.
While no one was injured, a video of the incident shared on X showed that the window glass and roof of the car were shattered.
A similar thunderstorm on Friday evening blew off the glass doors and windows at Jaypee Aman in Sector 151.
Yogesh Singh, AOA president of the society, told TOI that the incident happened around 4.30 pm on Friday. "All flats in the society have PVC sliding doors on the balcony. On Friday evening, the sliding doors came crashing down at a flat on the 10th floor in Tower 23 due to the strong winds. No one was injured, but the damage is massive as the whole PVC pane has detached from the balcony wall, and the flat owners are now in discussions with the builder and maintenance office for repairs," said Singh.
Hemant Parmar, a local resident, said there is no other residential society in the neighbourhood, and the society was open from all four sides. Air conditioner units were torn from their mounts due to the gusty winds in a few other flats.
Vishal Bhutani, facility manager, said that about 15-20 flats were damaged due to wind and rainfall on Friday. "As per the builder-buyer agreement, the internal damages shall be borne by the flat owner,s while the outer damages shall be borne by the developer. However, since it is a natural calamity, we are holding talks with the residents to get the flats repaired amiably," he said.
