3k evacuated from low-lying Delhi areas

About 3,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas of Delhi to makeshift camps and traffic was suspended on the Old Yamuna Bridge as the water level in the river continued to rise on Sunday, reaching its highest level in the last five years a day after breaching the danger mark, government officials said.

The Delhi government has declared an emergency in the low-lying areas of the Yamuna floodplains.

“The water level touched 205.5 metres around 5pm on Sunday. The last time it breached the 205 metres was in 2013 when the water level touched 207.3 metres. In 2013 Haryana, had released around 8 lakh cusecs of water on a single day. This time the maximum water Haryana has released so far is around 6 lakh cusecs. It was released on Saturday evening,” said an official of the irrigation and flood control department (I&FC), requesting not to be named.

An order banning movement of traffic on the bridge was issued after the flow in the Yamuna showed a rising trend, another official said.

The water level is likely to rise to 206.6 metres in the next 48 hours, as it takes at least two days for the water to reach Delhi after being released from Haryana’s Hathnikund Barrage, around 200km north of Delhi.

In 1978, when Delhi suffered its most severe floods, the water level had touched a record 207.49 metres.

Haryana officials have cautioned Delhi about the rise in water level, according to news agency Press Trust of India.

Though monsoon rain has abated in the national capital, heavy spells in the upper catchment areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have led to a sharp rise in level of the Yamuna in Delhi. Evacuation of people, mostly farmers and cattle grazers in the low-lying areas of the floodplain, began on Saturday after the Delhi government issued a flood alert. The India Metrological Department , however, saidthe intensity of rainfall in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand is likely to decrease in the next three-four days.\