Yamuna river overflows, traffic halted
NEW DELHI: With the water level in the Yamuna river flowing above danger mark, traffic on the old Yamuna (Iron) bridge has been suspended, Delhi Traffic Police said on Wednesday.
The warning level of Yamuna is fixed at 204.50m and the danger level is at 205.33m and the evacuation level has been marked at 206m.
On Tuesday, the Yamuna was flowing at 206.20 m which was above the evacuation level.
An evacuation alert was sounded for people living in the low-lying areas.
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 Yamuna 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.
Seeing the looming threat of floods, the authorities have started evacuating people from the low-lying areas near the Yamuna Bank.
Separately, the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department is operating on war footing to complete the flood prevention works as the northeast monsoon is expected to reach the state in the third week of October.
Chief Minister MK Stalin has directed the officials not to be complacent about the water stagnation in Chennai and other metro cities and prevent such issues.
He had appointed a commitee headed by retired IAS officer, V Thiruppugazh to recommend the flood prevention works ater taking into consideration the feedback from the local bodies and residential associations.
Flood-related issues in 2021 have led to severe criticism against the state Water Resources Department with almost all the metro cities having water stagnation problems and water gushing into the residences ater a sudden spate of rains.
Water Resources Minister, S Duraimurugan said that “the department is working on war footing across the state and have communicated with all the district engineers to complete the work before the commencement of the northeast monsoon expected in October third week.” The department officials have held periodical online meetings with all the districts in charge to reach out to all the places where there are possibilities of a flood-like situation.
Water Resources Department officials are also making it certain that the storm drain works are also maintained and ready to use in time.