Rain-Ravaged Delhi Dreads 1978 Flood Horrors As Swelling Yamuna Nears Record Mark
On Tuesday, the water level of Yamuna was flowing above the danger level at 206.32 metres at the Old Railway Bridge. In 1978, the water level in the river rose to 204.79 metres.
Forty-five years after Delhi was devastated by a raging Yamuna, a flood threat looms yet again on the national capital. As the rain continued to pound Delhi on Tuesday, residents of New Friends Colony, Maharani Bagh, Jamia Milia and Okhla areas have been advised to evacuate in view of flood risk. In North Delhi, 30 villages are already flooded reported The Indian Express. An alert has been issued for seven other North Delhi colonies due to multiple breaches in the Shah Alam Dam.
At 8 am on Tuesday, the water level of Yamuna was flowing above the danger level at 206.32 metres at the Old Railway Bridge. The highest level of the river in Delhi is 207.49 metres. As a precautionary measure, railway and traffic movement on the Old Railway Bridge has been stopped.
The Delhi government earlier issued a flood warning after 1 lakh cusecs water was released from Hathini Kund Barrage in Haryana on Sunday. The Delhi administration had said that the water level in Yamuna will cross the danger mark on Tuesday. Due to this, the risk of flood has increased in the low-lying areas of the capital. Hence, it issued an alert for the 37,000-odd people living on the banks of the Yamuna, reported news website Aaj Tak.
A stretch of the GT Road to Karnala has also been closed to traffic due to flooding. . According to the Meteorological Department, Delhi received 150 mm rain in 24 hours. This means that the national capital got 20% of the rain that it usually receives in monsoon in the last 24 hours. Of this 126 mm rain was recorded in the last 12 hours.
According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), the water level of Yamuna here at 1 pm on Sunday was 203.18 metres. The alert level is 204.5 metres, which will cross 205.33 metres on Tuesday. The situation in Delhi may get worse if more water is released from Haryana.
1978 Delhi Floods
According to the Zee News, in 1978, Delhi recorded a devastating flood after 7 lakh cusecs water was released into the Yamuna from the Hathnikund barrage and the water level in the river rose to 204.79 metres at the Old Railway Bridge. In 2013, even more water was released (207.32 cusecs), but flooding was prevented as anti-water accumulation measures were undertaken by constructing embankments and shank guards reported Hindustan Times.
Lakhs of people were affected due to inundation in many areas. Then many areas of the capital were completely submerged in water and water had entered people's homes. About 43 square kilometres of fields were submerged and crops were ruined.
At that time the level of Yamuna at the Old Railway Bridge had touched the 207.49-metre mark. Since then, the level of Yamuna has crossed the mark of 207 metres twice — in 2010 (207.11 m) and in 2013 (207.32 m). Noida had also been affected in these years by the swollen Yamuna.
The flood threw Delhi into a state of emergency with a lack of drinking water at the refugee camps and villages that had been cut off due to the flooding running out of food and other supplies. Fear of diseases like cholera also loomed large.
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