3-year-old falls into manhole in Panchkula, dies

A three-year-old girl died in Panchkula after falling in an open manhole while she and her mother were crossing a street flooded with rainwater.

Police officials of the Sector 14 station and Sector 20 confirmed the incident. They said the girl fell into the manhole while wading through a waterlogged street in Sector 12-A.

The body of the girl, who was identified as Vipana, was later recovered from a drain in Sector 20. She was also taken to Civil Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, where doctors pronounced her brought dead.

The girl’s father, Gopiram, said that his wife was going to an adjacent place with the child to attend a programme. Onlookers said the child was walking with her mother amid rainfall when fell into an open manhole and was swept away with the water’s current.

Meanwhile, streets in Sector 15, 14, 11, 20 and others were inundated with rainwater as city received rainfall almost throughout the day. Residents said they had to wade through knee-deep water as the city roads were filled with rainwater.

The recently carpeted round-about at Sector 11 and 14 was also found in tatters after the precipitation.

SK Nayar, president of the Citizen Welfare Association, Panchkula, said rainwater entered houses in several areas, including Sectors 19 and 15. “The city’s drainage system gave away during rain on Friday. Water entered people’s homes and damaged goods in Sectors 19, 15 and others,” he said.

Rain leads to 4-hour traffic jam in Zirakpur

• Mohali: Rainwater entered several houses in Phase 11, Phase 4, and Phase 5 of Mohali on Friday afternoon as heavy downpour drenched every nook and corner of the city.
• TDI City residents complained that slush and rainwater blocked many roads in the township.
• In Kharar, traffic moved at a snail’s pace as roads were submerged in knee-deep water.
• The traffic management system also crumbled in Zirakpur, where a four-hour traffic jam was witnessed on Friday.
• Various streets, roads and market areas in Zirakpur were also inundated with rainwater.
• Residents of low-lying housing societies and visitors in markets faced a harrowing time as rainwater flooded the entrances and restricted access. TNS