With heavy rains continuing in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, authorities in Haryana’s Hathnikund barrage on Saturday released excess water into the Yamuna river, posing a flood threat to New Delhi.

The water level of the Yamuna river has crossed the danger mark and is expected to rise further, prompting authorities to issue advisory to take appropriate measures to avoid flood-like situation, officials said.

“On Saturday morning over 200,000 cusecs of water was released into the Yamuna from the Hathnikund barrage — which provides drinking water to New Delhi,” an official told IANS in Chandigarh.

The official said villages along the Yamuna river have been alerted about the release of the excess water. The city government have already begun evacuating people from low-lying areas.

The water-level at the Hathnikund barrage along the Haryana-Uttarakhand border rose to alarming levels owing to overnight heavy rains in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

The water level of the Yamuna river at the Delhi Railway Bridge is expected to rise further to 205.40 m from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm today, according to a statement issued by the East Delhi district administration.

“The water level of river Yamuna at Delhi Old Rly Bridge reached at 204.92 metres at 7 AM on July 28 (above the warning level) and having rising trend,” it said.

An alert was sounded on Friday by the Delhi government after the water level of the Yamuna river crossed the danger mark, an official said.

“All the executive engineers/sector officers are directed to keep in close contact with the control room in relation to the discharge, water level at the Old Railway Bridge and the advisory or forecast from the Central Water Commission/MET, and requested to take appropriate measures/steps accordingly to avoid flood-like situation,” it said.

“The CWC, Upper Yamuna Division, New Delhi has issued flood forecast for the Delhi Railway Bridge (North Delhi Dt NCT, Delhi). The water level of river Yamuna at Delhi Rly Bridge was 205 metres at 9 AM on July 28 (warning level 204.00 m),” the advisory said.

A low-pressure area over western Uttar Pradesh and its neighbourhood persists.

This system will bring widespread rainfall with isolated ‘heavy to very heavy rainfall’ over Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and northwest Madhya Pradesh during the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

(With agency inputs)