The Yamuna River continued to flow above the danger mark at 206.44m yesterday.
The river breached the danger mark of 205.33m on Monday night, and the authorities were expecting the level to go up to 207m by yesterday.
However, the waters showed a receding trend since the early hours of yesterday, a Flood Control Department official told IANS.
“The water level, which was steady at 206.60m started showing a receding trend since afternoon. Although water is reducing, the situation is critical and we are keeping a close watch,” the official said.
The water level was rising due to rain in northern India and discharge of water from the Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana.
“Water is being released from the barrage since Saturday,” the official said, adding that Haryana released 8.28 lakh cusecs of water on Sunday evening.
The water discharged from the barrage, which provides drinking water to Delhi, normally takes 72 hours to reach the capital, the official said.
Thousands of people living along the banks of the river were moved to safer places. They have been asked to stay in tents until the water level comes down to normal.
Rail and road traffic on the Old Yamuna Bridge was suspended as the water level rose.
Delhi witnessed the worst floods in 1978 when the river’s level touched a record 207.49m.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot inspected a relief camp at Usmanpur yesterday on the east bank of the Yamuna.
Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Manoj Tiwari, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from the city, visited the flood-affected areas of Kisan Basti, Usmanpur and Gadhi Mandu.
In Chandigarh, Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said food processing companies responded generously to provide dry rations to flood-hit Punjab.
In a statement, the minister asked the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers as well as volunteers at large to assist her in distribution of the relief material.
She also urged people to help her in identifying the worst affected places so that relief work could be prioritised accordingly.
“Volunteers can share such locations with me”, she said adding she would personally supervise the distribution of the relief material in the next few days.
Badal said she had received widespread complaints from people that though the flood waters had destroyed thousands of acres of paddy crop and even damaged houses in villages in parts of Ropar and Anandpur Sahib besides Sultanpur Lodhi, Shahkot and Phillaur, adequate relief had not reached them.
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