Yamuna crosses danger mark in Delhi; city on alert

Authorities said evacuations of families living in low-lying areas would begin once the river crosses 206m. By Monday, the Yamuna had already surged to 205.63m.

For the first time in over two years, the Yamuna breached the danger mark of 205.33 metres on Monday, triggering alarm in the city and prompting Delhi’s chief minister to conduct an on-ground inspection of flood preparedness.

Residents of low-lying areas in Shastri Park evacuate their houses as water level rises. (SANCHIT KHANNA/HT Photo)

Authorities said evacuations of families living in low-lying areas would begin once the river crosses 206m. By Monday evening, the Yamuna had already surged to 205.63m, and the Central Water Commission (CWC) forecast that it was likely to rise further, breaching 206m by 2am on Tuesday.

Among the first to bear the brunt was Rasina Khatoon, 27, who lives in a makeshift tent in Sonia Vihar with her husband and three children. By evening, water had begun seeping into her home. Her utensils and clothes, carefully wrapped in plastic, were stacked on a charpoy, ready to be moved at a moment’s notice.

“At 3am today, we woke up to the sound of water rushing into our house,” she said, sitting on the edge of her tent and glancing nervously at the river behind her. “We managed to save a few belongings, but most of our vegetables and other things were destroyed. Every year, it is the same story.”

Her family, like many others along the floodplains, grows vegetables and rears livestock on the fertile land by the river. But with the Yamuna swelling fast, Khatoon knows they will soon have to abandon their plot and shift to higher ground until the river recedes.

According to CWC data, the river was flowing at 204.7 metres at 5 am on Monday, before rising rapidly through the day. It crossed 205 metres at 10am, breached the danger mark at 2pm, and was still rising late into the evening.

The sudden surge followed heavy discharges from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana. Officials said over 100,000 cusecs of water was released for nearly 12 straight hours between 1pm on Sunday and 1am on Monday, including a peak discharge of 178,996 cusecs at 4pm – the season’s highest.

To warn residents, the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) department deployed 34 of its 40 boats. Loudspeakers and microphones blared across the riverbanks, asking people to prepare for evacuation. “We are expecting the river to touch 206 metres by around 2 am. So evacuations may take place between 2 and 4 am,” an I&FC official said.

Lives on the move

For families along the Yamuna, evacuation is an annual ritual. In Yamuna Bazaar, where rickshaw drivers and daily wage earners live in tarpaulin shelters, people said they had already been warned by government officials.

“They told us to keep our belongings safe and be ready to move at short notice,” said Sanjay Sharma, 53, who runs a snack shop overlooking the river. “This is nothing new for us. We’ve evacuated many times over the years.”

Nearby, Ram Sachin, 65, a rickshaw puller who has lived in Yamuna Bazaar for eight years, said most people here have very little to lose. “We don’t own much. A charpoy, a blanket, some clothes — that’s all. So when the river rises, we can shift instantly.”

At Sarai Kale Khan, Akhilesh Sada, 28, was preparing to move again with his wife and three children. The family had arrived barely a month ago from Bihar, setting up a tent under a bridge. “Our farm by the river is already submerged. If the water rises more, we may have to return to our village,” he said.

For those who live by the riverside, memories of the devastating floods of July 2023 remain fresh. That year, the Yamuna swelled to its highest-ever level of 208.66 metres after record discharges of 359,760 cusecs from Hathnikund. Over 23,000 people were evacuated as water inundated neighbourhoods far from the floodplains — including Mayur Vihar, ITO, Salimgarh bypass and Civil Lines. Three major water treatment plants, supplying 25% of Delhi’s drinking water, were forced to shut temporarily, crippling supplies across the city.

“The situation then was something we had never seen before,” recalled Sharma of Yamuna Bazaar. “We stayed in relief tents on the roadside for weeks. Nobody who lived here will ever forget it.”

By contrast, last year’s peak was only 204.38 metres — below even the warning level.

Data from the I&FC department shows that in the past 63 years, the Yamuna has crossed its warning level in 53 years, the 205-metre mark in 43 years, and the 206-metre mark in 14 years. The 207-metre mark has been breached just four times — most recently in 2023.

Officials say this makes flooding a predictable, though still dangerous, annual occurrence. For residents, however, it is a cycle of displacement, loss, and return.

Khatoon summed it up as she prepared to leave her home once again.

“We know we have to move every year, yet we have no choice. Our lives depend on this river, but it also takes everything from us. All we hope is that the damage is not too much this time.”