PTI
New Delhi, July 15
After wreaking havoc in parts of nearby Delhi, the swollen Yamuna followed a downward trend Saturday morning, albeit at a slow pace of a few centimeters per hour.
However, it still flows over two meters above the danger mark of 205.33 meters.
The situation could worsen if weather forecasts for more rain in the capital and upper catchment areas come true.
According to the Central Water Commission’s flood monitoring portal, the water level in Yamuna dropped to 207.62 meters as of 7 a.m. Saturday, after peaking at 208.66 meters at 8 p.m. Thursday.
As the flow rate of Hathnikund Dam at Yamunanagar in Haryana has decreased over the past two days, a further decrease is expected.
However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) expected moderate rain in the city for the next two days and “heavy to very heavy” rains over the next five days over Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, raising concerns about a rise in water levels in the river.
Should there be more rain in Delhi, the rainwater could overflow and take longer than usual to drain, experts say. Waterlogging could exacerbate the situation.
Friday marked a turning point as the raging Yamuna and resulting backflow of foul-smelling water poured from the sewers into prominent sites such as the Supreme Court, Raj Ghat and the busy intersection at the ITO.
Before Friday’s tragedy, river water had already reached the rear ramparts of the Red Fort and submerged one of the city’s main bus terminals at Kashmere Gate.
The ring road, built partly over flood plains, remained closed near Kashmere Gate for the third straight day.
The city has been struggling with waterlogging and flooding for a week. First, a downpour on July 8 and 9 caused severe waterlogging, giving the city 125 percent of its monthly rainfall in just two days.
Subsequently, heavy rains in the upper drainage basins, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana, caused the Yamuna to swell to record levels.
On Thursday, the river reached 208.66 meters, easily surpassing the previous record of 207.49 meters set in September 1978.
The river broke embankments and plunged deeper into the city than at any time in over four decades.
As the situation worsened by the hour from Sunday to Thursday evening, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called on the center to intervene and Delhi Police imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in flood-prone areas to prevent public transport there.
For the first time since the 2010 floods, the army was called in to fix a broken flow regulator on Drain No. 12, the reason for the flooding in central parts of the capital on Friday.
The consequences of the floods were devastating, around 23,000 people were evacuated from their homes. The financial, business and earnings losses suffered amount to several million euros.
Experts attribute the unprecedented flooding in Delhi to encroachment on flood plains, extreme rainfall over short periods of time and accumulation of mud that has raised the river bed.
A senior Central Water Commission (CWC) official told PTI that this time the water released from the Hathnikund Dam took less time to reach Delhi compared to previous years.
“The main reason could be flooding and siltation. The water used to have more space to drain, now it flows through a narrowed cross-section,” he said.
According to Yashveer Bhatnagar, country representative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the record water level in the Yamuna is due to heavy rainfall throughout the upper catchment area.
“Intervening in the flood plains could have an additional effect,” he said.
Bhim Singh Rawat, deputy coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, People (SANDRP), said the unprecedented rise in Yamuna water levels was due to the riverbed being raised due to significant mud accumulation.
“More than 25 bridges within the 22km stretch of river from Wazirabad to Okhla impede the flow, resulting in the deposition of mud in the riverbed and the formation of many sandbars in the middle of the river,” he told PTI.
The Yamuna river system drainage basin includes parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
The low-lying areas near the river in the north-east, east, middle and south-east of the counties, which are home to around 41,000 people, are considered to be at risk of flooding.
A study by the Irrigation and Flood Prevention Ministry on Urban Flooding and its Management indicates that East Delhi lies under the flood region and is highly prone to flooding.
Nevertheless, interventions and developments have taken place in the ecologically sensitive region at a rapid pace over the years.
Letters exchanged between the Delhi Forest Department and the city’s main landowning agency, the Delhi Development Authority, reveal that 2,480 hectares of land in the Yamuna flood plains have been developed or developed since 2009.