Yamuna river crosses danger mark in Delhi

New Delhi, August 17 : After a gap of five years Yamuna river is flowing above danger mark to touch 205.55 meter in Delhi.

This is about 1.50 meters above the red mark. Precautionary measures have been stepped up.

Authorities have evacuated to safer places 60 people trapped as Yamuna overflowed in Usmanpur area. Development Minister Rajkumar Chauhan said there is no imminent threat to life and property. He said the water level in the Yamuna is rising consistently as Haryana is releasing 25,000 cusecs of rain water everyday.

Chauhan said if it continues, the water level is expected to rise further in the next few days.

As a precaution, the authorities are releasing more than 50,000 cusecs of water from Wazirabad barrage to Okhla barrage and ITO barrage. Control rooms have been set up at strategic places to keep a round-the-clock vigil on the water flow. The city faced heavy floods in 1978, when the Yamuna crossed the danger mark and rose to 207.49. The river had also crossed danger level in 1995 and 1998.

The Meterological department has said the city received a rainfall of 18.02 mm between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 pm. today.

A Met official forecast cloudy sky with few spells of rain in the next 24 hours.

ANI