Yamuna flows into Supreme Court, ITO as Delhi witnesses 'worst flood in 45 years'

New Delhi: Commuters are having a tough time in the national capital as the Yamuna river continued to overflow leaving the roads flooded and hitting the road and rail traffic.

Even though Yamuna's water level began to recede, areas in ITO and Raj Ghat were submerged on Friday as a regulator of the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control Department suffered damage near Indraprastha, exacerbating the already dire situation.

The floodwaters even reached the Supreme Court, located in the Tilak Marg area in the central part of the city.

"The water is not accumulating due to rain. The areas that saw this situation yesterday have all the drains full. Water from ITO flows into the drains of Old Delhi but due to flooding around Red Fort all the drains of Old Delhi are full. Secondly, large amounts of water reached Delhi from Hathnikund -- in a way, Delhi became a reservoir. Delhi's flood resilience and the capability of its embankments are being tested. Our team is working 24/7, and there is full support of NDRF & Army's engineering wing but I think it will take 10-12 hours for the situation to be normal again,” Delhi minister Atishi Marlena told ANI on Friday.

Commuters have been complaining that severe waterlogging has turned normal life upside down in Delhi. A source claimed the national capital is facing the worst flood in 45 years.

Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the government has directed the chief secretary to take up the matter of the damage to the regulator on priority and resolve the problem.

"Whole night, our teams worked to fix the damage at regulator of drain no. 12 near WHO building. Still, the water of Yamuna is entering the city through this breach. The government has directed the chief secretary to take it up on highest priority," he said in a tweet.

The compromised regulator allowed the Yamuna water to flow back towards the city areas.

Yamuna's water level at 8 am stood at 208.42 m.

The flooding in ITO and Raj Ghat areas has led the authorities to impose curbs on the movement of traffic.

"No vehicular traffic will be allowed on Mahatma Gandhi Marg from Sarai Kale Khan towards IP Flyover due to overflow of drain water near WHO Building. Commuters are advised to avoid the stretch," the Delhi Traffic Police said in a tweet.

Commuters battled problems as they navigated through the waterlogged ITO Road, which is a key stretch connecting East Delhi to Lutyens's Delhi.

People going to their offices and New Delhi Railway Station will face hardships while navigating through the stretch.

The ITO stretch houses key offices of the country's national dailies.

Traffic movement was also closed on Bhairon Road due to overflow of drain water near Railway Under Bridge.

Some people could be seen dragging their vehicles through the waterlogged ITO stretch.

A commuter going towards Noida said: "Till now, we were feeling that the floodwater is only entering low-lying areas. But now the threat feels so closer as the nerve centre of Delhi has been flooded." 

Regulator to be fixed soon: Kejriwal

The Indraprastha water regulator was breached due to the strong flow of the Yamuna River and is likely to be repaired in the next three-four hours, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday.

Delhi LG VK Saxena and Kejriwal inspected the repair work on the breached regulator.

"The regulator was breached due to the strong flow of the Yamuna and water started entering the city. The workers have been involved in repairs since last night and it is expected to be done in 3-4 hours," Kejriwal said.

He said the water level of the Yamuna has started going down and people are expected to get relief soon.

The chief minister said that the flooding of Rajghat was due to the backflow of a drain in the area.

The Delhi Chief Minister and Revenue Minister Atishi directed the chief secretary to seek help from the NDRF and Army to prevent flooding in Delhi due to the damage to the regulator.

Kejriwal said involving the Army and NDRF will speed up repair work.

Areas affected

As per reports, amongst the worst affected areas in the national capital are GT Karnal road, Majnu ka Tila-Wazirabad stretch, Boat Club, Vishwakarma colony, Monastery Market, Neem Karoli gaushala, Neeli Chhatri Temple, Yamuna Bazar, Garhi Mandu, New Usmanpur, Vishwakarma Khadda Colony, Shastri Park, Geeta Ghat, Old Yamuna bridge, Geeta Colony, Nigam Bodh Ghat road, Gandhi Nagar, Sonia Vihar, Pandav Nagar, Mandawali to name a few.

(With PTI inputs)