As water from the Yamuna inundated more areas of Delhi and rescue efforts intensified, the city stared at a drinking water shortage.
As the overflowing Yamuna disrupted daily life in parts of the national capital on Thursday, a regulator of the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Department suffered damage near the Indraprastha bus stand and the WHO Building on Drain No 12, exacerbating the already dire situation.
The compromised regulator allowed the Yamuna water to flow back towards the city, intensifying the challenges faced by residents. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal swiftly took action, directing immediate reinforcements to be dispatched to the site, according to a statement.
Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj rushed to the scene to oversee the evolving situation. Assisted by a team of senior officers from the department, Bharadwaj has been coordinating the efforts to mobilise all available resources to gain control over the flow of water.
Officials and a large number of workers are working to reinforce the area surrounding the damaged regulator to halt the ingress of floodwater into the city, the statement said. Delhi Minister Gopal Rai inspected a site after receiving information about the "leakage of Yamuna water towards Sonia Vihar Pusta, near Nanaksar Gurdwara".
He reached the spot with officials, took stock of the situation and instructed them to complete the relief work as soon as possible. Following heavy rain in its upper catchment areas, the Yamuna has been flowing above the danger mark in Delhi for the past four days.
Over the past two days, the ferocious river turned roads into rushing streams, parks into watery labyrinths, and homes and shelters into submerged realms, severely disrupting daily life in the national capital. The water level, however, stabilised after reaching 208.62 metres, smashing the all-time record set 45 years ago by a significant margin.
As water from the Yamuna inundated more areas of Delhi and rescue efforts intensified, the city stared at a drinking water shortage. The Delhi government said the inundation of a pump house at Wazirabad impeded operations at Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla water treatment plants, leading to a 25 per cent drop in water supply.
Central Water Commission Director Sharad Chandra said the rate of water flow rate at the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana dropped to 80,000 cusecs at 4.00 pm. "The water level has stabilised ... It is expected to drop to 208.45 metres by 3.00 am on Friday," he told PTI.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority on Thursday directed that non-essential government offices, schools and colleges be closed till Sunday. The city government has banned the entry of heavy goods vehicles, barring those carrying essential items, into the city from the four borders, including Singhu. With vehicular movement in the national capital, especially east Delhi, severely impaired by the closure of roads due to the overflowing Yamuna, the city's traffic police issued an advisory on the restrictions and regulation.
According to the advisory, traffic has been impaired on the Mahatma Gandhi Marg between the IP flyover and Chandgi Ram Akhara as well as between Kalighat Mandir and Delhi Secretariat, and on the Outer Ring Road between Wazirabad Bridge and Chandgi Ram Akhara. The Delhi Metro, the city's lifeline, was also hit as water from the raging Yamuna spilled onto the roads.