Yamuna water level in Delhi stabilises, will start receding soon, says CWC

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Yamuna river in Delhi has stabilised and will start receding tonight, a senior Central Water Commission official said on Thursday. According to the CWC flood-monitoring portal, the water level at the Old Railway Bridge rose to 208.62 metres at 1 pm and remained stable till 4 pm. «The water level has stabilised and it will start coming down in the next four hours.

It is expected to drop to 208.45 metres by 3 am on Friday,» Central Water Commission (CWC) Director Sharad Chandra told PTI. He said the rate of water flow rate at the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana dropped to 80,000 cusecs at 4 pm. The raging river has inundated several areas, impacted public and private infrastructure, road and rail traffic and caused immense hardships to people living near the river.

The water level at the Old Railway Bridge crossed the 208-metre mark Wednesday night, with the CWC terming it an «extreme situation». Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday urged the Centre to intervene and the city police imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in flood-prone areas to prevent unlawful assembly of four or more people and public movement in groups. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority on Thursday directed that all non-essential government offices, schools and colleges in the city be closed till Sunday.

Private establishments across the city have been advised to work from home. There are two major barrages on the Yamuna — Dakpathar in Dehradun and Hathnikund in Yamunanagar — upstream of Delhi. There are no dams on the river and, therefore, most of the monsoon rain flow remains unutilised, resulting in floods during the season.