Delhi Police evacuates 750 people from low-lying areas close to Yamuna

As parts of Delhi close to the Yamuna battles an overflowing river, police and other agencies on Wednesday evacuated more than 750 people and more than 250 cattle, officials said.

In one such incident, a man was found perched on a tree by a police team patrolling in a boat to track if anyone was trapped. It was later found that he had been sitting there for 22 hours to save himself, the police said.

From making public announcements, using drones to track down trapped people and animals, to arranging boats for rescue operations, Delhi Police personnel, including senior officers, have been on the ground coordinating with different agencies. Thousands of people have been moved to safer areas as water gushed into their homes and markets near the river.

The Yamuna in Delhi swelled to a staggering 208.08 metres on Wednesday, smashing the previous all-time record of 207.49 metres set 45 years ago by a significant margin, flooding several riverside areas and prompting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to call an emergency meeting.

Government officials said the Garhi Mandu village near the Signature Bridge in Wazirabad is submerged. A majority of the people have been taken to safety and the rest are being evacuated using boats.

Sharing visuals of the rescue operation, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Joy Tirkey said a team from the Usmanpur police station along with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel rescued 56 people and 41 cattle trapped due to overflowing of the Yamuna in the village.

The personnel rescued several families and evacuated them in boats to safer places. Elderly people and those suffering from health issues were carried by the rescuers.

The Delhi Police imposed prohibitory measures under Section 144 of the CrPC in the city's flood-prone areas on Wednesday as the river swelled to prevent unlawful assembly of four or more people and public movement in groups.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority issued an advisory asking people to move to safer locations and cautioning them against passing through low-lying areas.

According to the data shared by the police, personnel from three police stations in the northeast district -- New Usmanpur, Shastri Park and Sonia Vihar -- rescued 390 people and 190 cattle from flood-prone areas till 6 pm. Three police stations of the east district -- Mayur Vihar, Mandawali and Pandav Nagar -- rescued 370 people and 76 cattle.

In the police's northeast district, 250 cops, 20 from the NDRF, 30 from the Civil Defence, 100 volunteers, 20 boat operators and eight boats have been pressed into service.

Similarly, Gandhi Nagar and Geeta Colony police stations in the Shahdara district have deployed over 100 personnel. They have rescued 75 people and 20 cattle, the police said.

Acting swiftly on an information received at 11.25 pm on Tuesday about some people being trapped by water from the overflowing river, a team from Sonia Vihar police station responded promptly and saved five people, including three women, and a dog in an operation that lasted till 1 am, Tirkey said.

In another such rescue operation in east Delhi's Pandav Nagar, 16 children and two women were rescued in a boat, the police said.

Shastri Park police station personnel saved 72 people and 33 cattle.

Delhi witnessed its highest rainfall (153 mm) in a single day in July since 1982 in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Sunday. The city received an additional 107 mm rainfall in the subsequent 24 hours, exacerbating the situation. The heavy rain transformed roads into gushing streams, parks into watery labyrinths and marketplaces into submerged realms.

The city recorded a rapid increase in the Yamuna's water level over the past three days.

It shot up from 203.14 metres at 11 am on Sunday to 205.4 at 5 pm on Monday, breaching the danger mark of 205.33 metres 18 hours earlier than expected.

The river exceeded the evacuation mark of 206 metres on Monday night, prompting the relocation of people residing in flood-prone areas to safer locations and the closure of the Old Railway Bridge for road and rail traffic. The water level breached the previous all-time record of 207.49 metres by 1 pm on Wednesday and the 208-metre mark by 10 pm.

Northwest India witnessed incessant rainfall over the weekend with many areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan recording "heavy to extremely heavy" downpour.