Thousands flee rising waters in Delhi as Yamuna river overflows

Rescue teams sent out to help people living in low-lying areas

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  A man helps his son clamber on to a flyover under construction, after being displaced by rising water levels in New Delhi. Reuters

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  The hand of a Hindu priest shows the level of floodwaters inside a temple after the Yamuna burst its banks. AFP

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  A man carries a dog to safety after heavy monsoon rain hit India's capital. AFP

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  A motorcyclist drives through a waterlogged street during a heavy downpour in Delhi. AP

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  National Disaster Response Force personnel rescue people from areas flooded by the Yamuna river in Delhi. AFP

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  Volunteers lift a dog to safety at a bridge over the flooded Yamuna river. AFP

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  New Delhi residents carry their belongings on rickshaws along a street flooded by the rising Yamuna river. Reuters

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  A woman with her belongings after being displaced by rising water levels in New Delhi, India. Reuters

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  A child queues to receive food at a temporary shelter after flooding in New Delhi. AFP

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  People queue for food at a temporary shelter in New Delhi. AFP

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  Food being distributed to displaced residents affected by the rising waters of the Yamuna river. Reuters

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  Residents scramble to higher ground after being displaced by flooding in New Delhi. Reuters

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  People with their belongings wade through floodwaters from the Yamuna river. AFP

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  Men guide cattle to safety. AFP

More than 16,000 people living in low-lying areas of Delhi were forced to leave their homes after water overflowing from the Yamuna river flooded their homes.

Authorities in the Indian capital Delhi issued a flood alert as the water level in the river that passes through north and eastern parts of Delhi exceeded 208m on Thursday morning – three metres above the danger mark.

The surge has been caused by days of heavy rainfall across northern India and the release of water from the Hathnikund Barrage in neighbouring Haryana state.

A villager rescues some of his livestock in the Jalandhar district of Punjab, an area also affected by flooding. AFP

Parts of the capital affected by flooding include the upmarket Civil Lines where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, bureaucrats and other ministers live. The city’s main crematorium, Nigambodh Ghat, on the banks of the Yamuna, was under more than a metre of water.

The city is likely to face a drinking water shortage after three water treatment plants were shut down because of the floods.

Mr Kejriwal ordered the closure of schools in flood-affected areas and appealed for residents to co-operate with the city administration.

“The water level of Yamuna is increasing continuously. Due to the rising water level, the Yamuna has come on the roads around it. You are requested not to go on these routes,” Mr Kejriwal said on Twitter.

“People are being evacuated from the populated areas where there is water. The people living there are requested to co-operate with the administration. Saving the lives of people is most important. There is an appeal to all the people of Delhi to co-operate with each other in every possible way in this emergency.

News channels broadcast footage of people who fled their flooded homes sitting next to washing machines and water coolers – the valuable items they took with them as the waters began to rise.

“My house was completely submerged in floodwater. We ran out to save our lives,” one resident said.

More than a dozen teams of the National Disaster Response Force on rafts were rescuing people.

“We have so far rescued 50-60 people but more people are needed to be rescued. The water level here since morning has increased by three feet,” said Haji Sharif, an NDRF member stationed near the Yamuna Bank Metro Station.

Members of the National Disaster Response Force prepare to evacuate stranded residents from a flooded locality in New Delhi. Reuters

Although Delhi has not received heavy rain in the past few days, the flooding was caused after Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana was opened to release a build-up of water from Himachal Pradesh, where very heavy rainfall has caused widespread destruction and claimed at least 39 lives this week.

The Himalayan state, a popular destination for tourists at this time of year, received 249.6mm of rainfall between July 1 and 11 – more than triple the 76mm average for the period.

More than 50,000 tourists were forced to leave the state on Wednesday.

Haryana and Punjab states have also experienced flooding after incessant rainfall for the past five days. Nearly two dozen people, 11 in Punjab and 10 in Haryana, died in rain-related incidents this week, according to government data.