Delhi News: PM Modi inquires about flood situation in national capital; Yamuna water level starts receding

• Lieutenant governor V K Saxena will hold a special meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Thursday to discuss the flood situation in the city, officials said.
• Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is the vice-chairman of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), will also attend the meeting.
• The torrential Yamuna in Delhi swelled to a staggering 208.48 metres on Thursday morning, inundating nearby streets and public and private infrastructure, and causing immense hardships to people living in close proximity to the river.

• As the Yamuna water level rises, the Delhi Secretariat housing offices of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his cabinet and other senior bureaucrats, was flooded on Thursday.
• According to officials from the Public Works Department, they received information regarding flooding of the Delhi Secretariat. They said they are coordinating with the traffic police and other agencies on the situation.
• The road from Rajghat to Delhi Secretariat was also flooded.

• With the Yamuna swelling to a staggering 208.48 metres, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday advised people to not use roads around the river as they have been inundated.
• "The water level of Yamuna is rising continuously. Now the level has reached 208.46m. Due to the rising water level, the water of Yamuna has come on the roads around it. You are requested not to go on these routes," he said in a tweet in Hindi.
• He said people are being evacuated from inundated areas.
• "The people living there are requested to cooperate with the administration. Saving lives of people is most important.This is an appeal to all the people of Delhi to cooperate with each other in every possible way in this emergency situation," he added.

• The Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Thursday rescued people stranded, due to waterlogging and flooding from incessant rainfall, in Laksar. Those rescued included children, women and the elderly.
• The SDRF team received information that people are stranded at many places due to waterlogging in the Laksar area. Acting on the information, the SDRF's flood rescue team reached the spot with rafts and other equipment and carried out a quick rescue operation, moving several families trapped in the rising waters to a safe location.

• The Yamuna River in the national capital continued to flow over the danger mark, with the water level reaching 208.46 metres on Thursday morning.
• Further, according to officials, the water level of the Yamuna, on the Old Railway Bridge, was recorded at 208.46 meters at 7am on Thursday.
• Traffic on the GT Karnal Road in the national capital was thrown out of gear as the Yamuna waters breached the warning mark while the area near Nigam Bodh Ghat in Delhi was flooded.
• Due to the rise in the water level of Yamuna and resultant inundation of low-lying areas, traffic movement has been impaired on Mahatma Gandhi Marg between IP Flyover and Chandgi Ram Akhara, Mahatma Gandhi Marg between Kalighat Mandir and Delhi Secretariat and Outer Ring Road between Wazirabad Bridge and Chandgi Ram Akhara.

• Several areas of the national capital are reeling under floodwaters and waterlogging as the water level of Yamuna river continues to rise following heavy rainfall and the release of water from Hathnikund Barrage.
• Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold an emergency meeting today.

With water level in the Yamuna breaking all past records and rising dangerously, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday and sought the Centre's intervention to impress upon Haryana to release controlled amounts of water from Hathnikund Barrage to prevent further flooding in the capital.

The rainwater is gone, but the Pragati Maidan tunnel isn't open for traffic movement yet as various safety equipment installed inside have been damaged due to the flooding, said Public Works Department (PWD) officials. "While the water has been drained out, the work is now on to fix the problems with the fire safety, electrical wiring, public announcement and surveillance systems," said an official.

The Yamuna, which has been in spate for the past two days and had crossed the danger mark, rose to its highest level on record and began to submerge low-lying areas on Wednesday.

• Setting off alarm bells in Delhi, Yamuna river on Thursday crossed the 208 metres mark.
• The river on Wednesday had breached the previous highest mark of 207.49 metres reached in 1978. It was flowing at 207.95 metres at around 9pm the previous day.
• The Ring Road within the Civil Lines area is currently experiencing flooding, resulting in the closure of the section that connects Majnu ka Tila with Kashmiri Gate ISBT. It is worth noting that this affected area is located merely 500 meters away from the residence of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Delhi assembly. READ MORE