Yamuna river continued to flow close to the warning mark in Delhi on Wednesday morning. The river is likely to swell further with more water being released into it from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana, officials said.

The water level
was recorded at 203.78 metres at the Old Railway Bridge at 8 am. Water was
being released into the Yamuna at the rate of 13,433 cusec at 8 am from the
Hathnikund barrage, an official of the irrigation and flood control department
said. One cusec is equivalent to 28.32 litre per second.

“The flow rate was 36,557 cusec at 5 pm on Tuesday, the maximum
in the last 24 hours… The water level is likely to increase in the next 48
hours,” he said.

The water discharged from the barrage, which provides drinking
water to Delhi, usually takes 72 hours to reach the capital.

Normally, the flow rate at the Hathnikund barrage is 352 cusec,
but the discharge is increased after heavy rainfall in catchment areas.

The water level was recorded at 203.98 metres at 6 pm on Tuesday, precariously close to the warning level of 204.50 metres, according to the official. The river had swelled to 204.38 metres on Monday, which was just a metre below the danger mark of 205.33 metres.

Last year, the flow rate had peaked to 8.28 lakh cusec on August
18-19, and the water level of the Yamuna had hit the 206.60 meter-mark,
breaching the danger mark of 205.33 meters.

The Delhi government had to launch evacuation and relief
operations after the overflowing river submerged many low-lying areas.

Delhi’s Water Minister Satyendar Jain had Monday said the
government was ready to deal with any flood-like situation.

The India Meteorological Department has also warned of
“heavy to very heavy” rainfall
in northwest India, which is likely to
increase water levels of the river.

“Heavy to very rainfall is
likely in northwest India over the next three to four days due to the northward
shifting of the monsoon through,” Kudeep Srivastava, the head of the regional
forecasting centre of the India Meteorological Department, said.