Not just Yamuna, backflow from drains floods Capital

The road leading to ITO and Rajghat were among new parts of the city to go under waist-deep waters after drains that emptied into the Yamuna began flowing back on Friday, even as the swollen river itself began receding but only by fractions of a metre every hour.

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Since last weekend, an unusually intense monsoon has poured misery onto the city, first by waterlogging streets on July 8 and 9, when the city received 125% of its monthly quota of rain in just two days. The heavy rains in the hill states then swelled the Yamuna to record levels, 208.66m on July 13, which swept over embankments and reached the farthest into the city it has in over four decades.

At least 23,000 people have been evacuated, with losses to homes, businesses and earnings running into crores, and two of the city’s four arterial links with its populous eastern localities across the river lying mostly snapped.

Then came Friday, when the city’s proverbial cup of woes spilled over to the doorsteps of the Supreme Court, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, and the busiest intersection of the city, ITO, as water in at least half a dozen drains back flowed, creating pools of muddy, stinking water.

This led to massive traffic spillovers on other connections to central Delhi from east Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad as Vikas Marg and the Ring Road from Nizamuddin Bridge to ITO were cut off.

“There will be relief in store for the citizens of Delhi in the coming few hours as the water levels in the Yamuna river have started to recede. Last night it was 208.66 metres and today it is 208.38 metres. But there is a possibility of rain tomorrow,” said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, adding that he was hopeful of the flooding in the river — the trigger for the most acute problems at present — to relent.

Yamuna receded to 207.98 metre at 10pm on Friday, down from the peak of 208.66 metre — highest in recorded history — at 8pm on Thursday. According to projections, it was set to fall further, but still remain at least two metre above the danger level on Saturday.