Yamuna breaches danger mark in Gautam Budh Nagar

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma has ordered that all schools in the district will remain shut on Friday in light of the flood warning

Yamuna breached the danger level at the Okhla Barrage in Gautam Budh Nagar on Thursday morning, prompting the irrigation department to issue a flood warning and commence evacuation operations in low-lying areas along the 77.5km long Yamuna embankment in the district.

At 11.45am Thursday, the downstream gauge of the Yamuna at Okhla Barrage reached the danger level of 200.60 metres. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma has ordered that all schools in the district will remain shut on Friday in light of the flood warning.

“At 11.45am Thursday, the downstream gauge of the Yamuna at Okhla Barrage reached the danger level of 200.60 metres. By 5pm, the waters rose by 15cm more and touched 200.75 metres, breaching the danger level. The upstream gauge at this point was at 200.8m. The discharge volume of water in the river is at 3.72 lakh (372,000) cusecs, which is more than the discharge capacity of the Okhla Barrage. Hence, a flood warning has been issued in the district and the department is on alert ,” said BK Singh, executive engineer, head works division, Agra Canal-Okhla, irrigation department of Uttar Pradesh.

He said the river level has broken all past records. “The last time the river level crossed the danger level was on June 20, 2013, when it reached 200.6m and the volume of water recorded at the Okhla Barrage was 3.65 lakh (365,000) cusecs. On Thursday, the river broke that record,” he said.

He said that the highest flood level (HFL) of the Yamuna in Gautam Budh Nagar is 202.17m. “This means that historically, the downstream gauge of the river has reached 202.17m, though official records do not have the exact date or year when this mark was breached,” Singh said.

He said the river is in spate because of water released from the Hathni Kund Barrage.However, after the Yamuna breached the danger level at Okhla Barrage, the water has been stopped. “The water from the Hathni Kund Barrage was stopped at 1pm, so we expect the increase in the river to slow down now,” he said.

Villagers from Bajidpur in Sector 135 had earlier reported cracks in the embankments on the river side, and a purported video of that has surfaced on social media. Officials said the irrigation department has made arrangements to strengthen the riverbank in the district. “Our priority is to ensure the river does not breach the embankment at any point in the district. We are sending teams to areas from where villagers have reported cracks in the embankment,” said the officer.