Delhi CM summons emergency meeting as Yamuna swells to all-time high

Locals sit next to the waters of the Yamuna river as its water level rises after being released from Hathni Kund barrage due to heavy rainfall, at Teesra Pusta, Usman Pur area, in New Delhi on Wednesday. ANI Photo

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday called an emergency meeting as the Yamuna in the national capital Delhi swelled to 207.71 metres, breaching its all-time record of 207.49 metres set in 1978.

Thousands of people have been shifted to safer areas as water gushed into their homes and markets near the river, PTI reported.

In view of the grave situation, the Delhi Police imposed prohibitory measures under CrPC section 144 in flood-prone areas of the city, preventing unlawful assembly of four or more people and public movement in groups.

According to the Central Water Commission's (CWC) flood-monitoring portal, the water level at the Old Railway Bridge crossed the 207-metre mark at 4 am on Wednesday, the first time since 2013. It rose to 207.71 metres by 4 pm.

The water level of the river is likely to rise further, an official of the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Department said. The India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall to continue in Uttarakhand in the next two days.

As the water level rose to a record level, Kejriwal urged the Centre to intervene to ensure that levels of the Yamuna don't rise further.

In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he requested that "if possible the water from Hathnikund barrage in Haryana be released in limited speed" and pointed out that Delhi is set to host the G-20 Summit meeting in a few weeks.

"The news of flood in the capital of the country will not send a good message to the world. Together we will have to save the people of Delhi from this situation," Kejriwal said.

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The swelling of the Yamuna river led to waterlogging in the Delhi Transport Corporation headquarters area near ITO. Its employees waded through the waterlogged entrance to get into the office on Wednesday.

In northeast Delhi's Gandhi Mendu and Usmanpur villages, flood water has risen to over four feet, local MLA Ajay Mahawar said, adding that the residents have already been moved to safety.

Narrating the problems faced at relief camps, a person said, "It's poor people like us who are suffering... Government makes false promises but does nothing on the ground. We don't get anything."

Another flood victim Radhe Kishan sought to vent his anger at the government saying, "Last year too the area had got flooded. The government has hardly done anything since then and the situation remains the same."

"The government could have at least made arrangements for food. But that is being provided by a gurdwara," he said.

Revenue Minister Atishi said the Delhi government is strengthening river embankments and evacuating people out of the floodplains.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority issued an advisory asking people to move to safer places and cautioning them against passing through low-lying areas.

As the flood situation persisted in the Yamuna river, people should stay away from power lines and reach out to the helpline 1077 in case of any need, it said.

Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said, "Central Water Commission predicts 207.72-metre water level in Yamuna tonight. Not good news for Delhi."

"There have been no rains in Delhi the last two days. However, levels of Yamuna are rising due to abnormally high volumes of water being released by Haryana at the Hathnikund barrage. Urge the Centre to intervene and ensure that levels in Yamuna don't rise further. Highest Flood Level 207.49m (in 1978). Current Level 207.55m."

The water level in the Yamuna river has risen rapidly over the past three days. It shot up from 203.14 metres at 11 am on Sunday to 205.4 at 5 pm on Monday, breaching the danger mark of 205.33 metres 18 hours earlier than expected.

The river had exceeded the evacuation mark of 206 metres on Monday night, prompting the relocation of people residing in flood-prone areas to safer locations and a closure of the Old Railway Bridge for road and rail traffic.

Water minister Saurabh Bharadwaj told reporters that the Delhi government was prepared to deal with the situation. "We are monitoring the situation and all possible steps are being taken," he said.

Major floods in Delhi occurred in 1924, 1977, 1978, 1995, 2010, and 2013. Analysis of flood data from 1963 to 2010 indicates an increasing trend for floods in September and a decreasing trend in July.

Bhim Singh Rawat, an associate coordinator at South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, People (SANDRP), attributed the unprecedented rise in the Yamuna water level to riverbed elevation due to significant silt accumulation.

"Lack of dredging, more than 20 bridges and three barrages within the 22-km river stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla obstruct the flow, leading to deposition of silt in the riverbed and formation of a lot of mid-stream sandbars," he told PTI.

An official explained that the sharp rise in water level was due to continuous rainfall in the upper catchment areas and saturated soil from heavy precipitation in Delhi and nearby regions over the weekend.

Northwest India saw incessant rainfall over the weekend with many areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan recording "heavy to extremely heavy" rains. PTI