Yamuna river water level crosses warning mark in Delhi

The water level of the Yamuna river in Delhi reached 204.88 metres at the Old Railway Bridge here on Thursday, crossing the warning level of 204.50 metres, officials said.

According to officials, an alert has been issued to all the agencies concerned to take precautionary measures to deal with a potential flood-like situation.

The Yamuna's water level stood at 204.88 metres at the Old Railway Bridge at 8 am, the officials said.

The warning mark for the city is 204.5 metres, while the danger mark is 205.3 metres, and evacuation starts at 206 metres. The Old Railway Bridge serves as a key observation point for tracking the river's flow and potential flood risks.

"The increase in the water level is mostly due to a large volume of water being released from the Hathnikund barrage every hour," an official from the central flood room said.

For the first time in this monsoon season, the discharge from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana exceeded 50,000 cusecs, peaking at 61,000 cusecs around 6 am.

"Since then, 50,000 cusecs of water has been released from the Hathnikund barrage every hour," the official said.

Water released from the barrage typically takes 48 to 50 hours to reach Delhi.