Delhi flood: Tents put up from Mayur Vihar-Akshardham

From Mayur Vihar to Akshardham, rescue tents and camps have been set up for people who have been moved from their homes in low-lying areas.

As the Yamuna swelled, waters touched the embankments around Mayur Vihar and Akshardham temple, and flooded areas around the Delhi Secretariat, which houses the offices of senior ministers and bureaucrats.

People wade through a street after the Yamuna flooded following heavy monsoon rains , near Mayur Vihar. (Raj K Raj/HT photo)

The embankments, people living in the east Delhi localities said, are far from the river, beyond marshy patches that serve as floodplains.

“We have never seen such levels of water. Yamuna is usually much farther away, and the flood warnings are issued every year. But it is never taken seriously as the situation is never like this,” said Prem Chand, who lives at Yamuna Khadar.

From Mayur Vihar to Akshardham, rescue tents and camps have been set up for people who have been moved from their homes in low-lying areas. Occupants have also rescued their cattle and pets, and brought them along to the tents.

Overall, 23,692 people have been moved to flood shelters in the Capital.

Officials said there were still some people seen perched atop submerged huts. “We have three boats from the administration and two boats of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams that have been continuously carrying out rescue operations throughout the day and night. The boats were pulling out people even at 2am on Wednesday night. Over 100 cattle have also been brought out,” said Sandeep Dutta, sub divisional magistrate of Mayur Vihar.

The flooding reached the service road and parts of the main stretch of Bhairon Marg near ITO crossing, opposite the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA). The waterlogging, and spillover traffic from diversions along the Ring Road and Pragati Maidan tunnel, caused a bottleneck at ITO.

Manoj Jha, a resident of Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, said that he got stuck in traffic for two hours.

“I left home at 9am for central Delhi and was on the road till 11am. All arterial roads from east Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad are choked because the Ring Road and many other areas have been blocked for traffic, leading to the other areas getting much higher traffic today,” he said.

Though the Pragati Maidan tunnel was finally cleared to be opened for public on Thursday, it was closed by the traffic police as a precautionary measure. It was opened for traffic later in the day after 2pm.