Yamuna’s water level rising; but likely to stay below: Report

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an alert for ‘moderate to heavy’ rainfall in Delhi from Wednesday to Friday and warned of flooding in low-lying areas along with disruption in traffic.

Officials said the water level of river Yamuna at Delhi rose slightly on Thursday morning and the river was flowing very close to the warning mark.

Yamuna’s water level on Thursday was 203.77 metres at 10 am while it was 203.78 metres on Wednesday at 6pm at the Old Railway Bridge in Delhi, an official belonging to Delhi’s irrigation and flood control department said. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT Photo)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an alert for ‘moderate to heavy’ rainfall in Delhi from Wednesday to Friday and warned of flooding in low-lying areas along with disruption in traffic. Delhi minister Satyendar Jain said that the state government was prepared to face any flood-like situation

Yamuna’s water level on Thursday was 203.77 metres at 10 am while it was 203.78 metres on Wednesday at 6pm at the Old Railway Bridge in Delhi, an official belonging to Delhi’s irrigation and flood control department said. He added that the flow rate on Wednesday afternoon was 24,994 cusec, the highest in the last 24 hours.

The official although pointed out that the level is likely to remain below the warning mark of 204.50 metres unless a very large amount of water measuring at least 2 lakh cusec, is released into the river from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district.

Hathnikund barrage acts as a source of drinking water in Delhi and water discharged from here usually takes between 36-48 hours to reach the national capital. The flow rate at the barrage is 352 cussec but the discharge is increased after torrential rainfall is witnessed in catchment areas.

Last year, the flow rate reached 8.28 lakh cusec, and Yamuna’s water level hit the 206.60 metre-mark, breaching the danger mark of 205.33 metres. The Delhi government carried out rescue and relief operations as several low-lying areas got submerged due to the overflow of the river.

(With inputs from PTI)