Yamuna water level crosses danger mark again after heavy rain in hills

The water level had touched a five-year peak of 206.5 m on July 31, resulting in a flood along the low-lying areas.

Delhi’s low-lying areas could face yet another flood-like situation, the second one in a gap of 14 days. The Yamuna’s water level had already crossed the ‘danger mark’ of 204.83m on Tuesday and is expected to swell further over the next 48 hours.

A submerged hut seen in the Yamuna river on Thursday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The water level had touched a five-year peak of 206.5 m on July 31, resulting in a flood along the low-lying areas. At least two persons, including an 11-year-old girl, were killed and more than 13,900 people had to be evacuated. This time, however, the water level is expected to reach only around 206m.

The chief secretary of Delhi held a meeting with various departments on Tuesday to take stock of the flood situation and preparedness. The water level touched 205.30 m around 8 pm on Tuesday.

“Leaves of government officials have been cancelled on Independence Day. We will start setting up tents and distribute food packets from Wednesday. Boats have been kept ready,” said K Mahesh, district magistrate, East Delhi.

Scientists of the India Meteorological Department said heavy to very heavy rain had lashed Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand since Sunday, forcing Haryana to release huge amounts of water from the Hathni Kund barrage on the Yamuna.

“Haryana has released more than 1.7 lakh cusecs of water. This water is expected to reach Delhi in the next 48 hours,” said a senior district official.

The situation is, however, likely to improve after the next 48 hours as the intensity of rain had decreased in the hills. Light to moderate rain is expected in Delhi in the next two days.

“The monsoon trough, which triggers rain wherever it goes, was located in the hills, triggering heavy rain there. The intensity has now decreased. The trough is now close to Delhi and hence there could be light to moderate rain in the Capital,” said BP Yadav, deputy director general of IMD.

With the situation improving in the hills, Haryana has already started reducing its water discharge. While initially it had discharged around 1.7 lakh cusecs, on Tuesday around 8 pm it discharged just around 23,000 cusecs. It takes around 48 - 72 hours for the water to reach Delhi.

The last time when Delhi encountered a flood on July 31, Haryana had released around six lakh cusecs. The water was released on July 28 and it reached Delhi on July 31.

During the 2013 flood, Haryana had released around eight lakh cusecs of water and the water level in Yamuna at Old Iron Bridge touched 207.3 m. The highest level the Yamuna has ever reached in Delhi was in 1978 when it touched 207.49m.