School children were among the worst affected by the heavy rains that lashed the city on Tuesday. Water-logged roads, flooded school premises and traffic jams left several students stranded for hours while returning home. Rains intensified around noon, coinciding with closing hours of several schools. Within a short span, roads and school premises in different parts of the city were flooded, making it difficult for school buses and vans to ferry students home. At a reputed school on Inner Ring Road in Gorewada area, students had to wade through knee-deep water accumulated on the premises to reach their school buses and vans. On Kamptee Road, buses of a reputed school remained stuck near Uppalwadi for nearly two hours as severe water-logging near the railway underbridge, coupled with heavy traffic, blocked the road. With students and teachers stranded inside the buses, the school management reportedly arranged food for them.

 

The management also remained in constant touch with parents, informing them about the situation and safety of their children. Similar scenes were witnessed in other parts of the city. A school bus was stalled in rainwater at Sai Nagar near Sonegaon Police Station. Several other school buses and vans either remained stuck in traffic or were forced to take longer routes to avoid flooded stretches. The situation worsened in the afternoon as several schools closed around the same time. School buses and vans entered roads already struggling with water-logging and traffic congestion, resulting in long queues at several places. Many students reached home very late than usual, keeping their worried parents waiting. Tuesday’s downpour once again brought to the fore the city’s vulnerability to water-logging during heavy rains. While commuters across the city struggled through flooded roads and traffic jams, for thousands of school children, what should have been a routine journey home turned into a long and difficult wait.