Riverbed Areas on Alert as Yamuna Crosses Danger Mark in Delhi

NEW DELHI:
An alert was sounded in the riverbed areas of the capital on Tuesday after the Yamuna crossed the evacuation level and started flowing above the danger mark following three days of incessant rainfall.

The warning level of the Yamuna river is fixed at 204.50m and the danger level is at 205.33m and the evacuation level has been marked at 206m. According to a Delhi government official, the river was flowing at 206.20 m at 10 am which was above the evacuation level.

An evacuation alert has been declared for people living in the riverbed low-lying areas near the banks. The alert was issued on Tuesday morning when the water level crossed the 206 metre mark.

This is the second time within two months that the authorities are evacuating the people living in the river floodplains due to flooding in the low-lying areas.

Earlier, the river had breached the danger mark of 205.33 metres on August 12, following which around 7,000 people were evacuated from the low-lying areas near the riverbanks.

The water level in the river is likely to further increase between 3 pm and 5 pm as 1,04,121 cusecs water was discharged from Hathni Kund Barrage. The water discharged from the Hathni Kund Barrage takes around two to three days to reach Delhi.

Seeing the looming threat of floods, the authorities have started evacuating people from the low-lying areas near the Yamuna Bank.