Yamuna ebbs further, still flowing above danger level

NEW DELHI - A swollen Yamuna continued to recede in the capital Thursday but was still flowing nearly two metres above the danger level of 204.83 metres, said an official of the Department of Irrigation and Flood Control here.

“The level of water in the river is now at 206.64, 1.81 metres above the danger level. The water level is going down constantly and there is no threat of a flood,” added the official.

The water level had risen by 2.25 metres above the danger mark Wednesday night and had touched 207.08 metres.

“We are still receiving water from the Hathinikund Barrage at regular intervals in smaller amounts and the situation is under control,” the official told IANS.

The Yamuna crossed the 207-metre-mark Wednesday and many residential colonies like GTB Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar, and areas near Delhi University’s North Campus and Kashmere Gate Inter-State Bus Terminus are still waterlogged with nearly two feet-deep water.

A more than a century-old key bridge over the Yamuna, linking the capital with its eastern district and western Uttar Pradesh which was closed to traffic Tuesday, still remains closed as the water level is still over two metres above the danger mark.

Several low-lying areas of Delhi like New Usmanpur, Sarita Vihar, Kalindi Kunj, Jamia Nagar and Wazirabad were inundated Tuesday and people were shifted to temporary shelter camps.

Breaking a 32-year-record, Haryana released a maximum discharge of 744,507 cusecs of water from the Hathinikund barrage Monday, creating panic of flood in Delhi.

Earlier this month, a discharge of over six lakh cusecs of water from Haryana had caused a flood threat. However, the water was dispersed as parts of the Yamuna embankment were damaged in Panipat in Haryana, letting some of the water out.