The Delhi government on Tuesday said thousands of people in low-lying areas have been moved to makeshift accommodations at safer places.
The relocation of at-risk people comes as the Yamuna River crossed the danger mark on Monday and has caused flooding in low lying areas.
Visuals of low-lying areas of Delhi submerged in water have surfaced. For the past few days, Delhi has witnessed heavy rainfall and waterlogging has reported at several places in the national capital.
Around 37,000 people in low-lying areas in Delhi at risk of flooding, reported PTI.
The affected people are being shifted to places in the East, North, Northeast, Southeast, Central and Shahdara districts of Delhi where more than 2,700 tents have been arranged for them, said Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj at a press conference.
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Bharadwaj also said that the water released from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh could reach up to 5 lakh cusecs.
"There will be no floods in Delhi. As the Yamuna levels rise, people living close to the riverbanks have to be evacuated. There is no threat of water getting into residential areas close to the river," said Bharadwaj.
Bharadwaj said most of the tents to shelter the evacuated people have been pitched in the East district (1,700), followed by 280 in North East Delhi district, 170 in Shahdara, 150 in Central, and 384 in South East district among others.
Bharadwaj added that shelters have also been readied in the North district where food water and other facilities were made available.
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After an emergency meeting on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said people from the Yamuna floodplain would be evacuated when the river crosses the 206-metre mark, reported PTI.
A day ahead of expectations, Yamuna crossed the danger-mark of 205.33 at around 1 pm on Monday, according to Central Water Commission (CWC). Earlier, the CWC had said that the Yamuna was expected to breach the danger mark between 10 am and 12 noon on Tuesday.
Earlier on Sunday, Haryana released over 1,00,000 cusecs of water, following which the Delhi government had issued a flood warning. On Sunday, 4,000 cusecs of water was released from Haryana's Kaushalya Dam and 1,00,000 cusecs of water was released from the Hathini Kund Barrage in Yamunanagar district. Overall, Haryana had issued an alert for release of 3,00,000 cusecs of water, reported PTI.
Last week, Delhi recorded record-breaking rainfall. Delhi received the highest single-day rainfall in 40 years as it recorded 153 mm rain in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 am on Sunday.
