The Flood in Delhi

The rains in North India have created a havoc in the capital city of India. The overflowing Yamuna is threatening to break through its banks! Various areas along the banks of the Yamuna are under great threat! Civil lines, the Tibetan Monastery, Nigambodh Ghat were all inundated with water. I took the Rajghat Road while returning home to Gurgaon and was shocked to see the Iron bridge which was just a few centimetres above the water line! I took a few snaps with my mobile of the iron bridge which I have presented below:

 

 

The iron bridge can be seen in the background of the above snap. The water level, as you can see is just a few feet below the span of the bridge!

To make matters worse is the fact that the Common Wealth games are just round the corner! The on going exams mean that students have to go to their schools irrespective of the conditions on the roads. Students coming to Roop Nagar from Sant Nagar, Burari and across the Wazirabad Bridge are doing so under a great risk!

What has compounded the problem is the fact that the drains flowing into the Yamuna River have been blocked to prevent water from the Yamuna flowing back into the city. Because of this reason, the rain water has no where to go, with the result that it has begun collecting on the roads. While going to school, I found it difficult to negotiate the  Filmistan Road because of the large amount of water on the road itself!

Let’s see what tomorrow has in store for us! It is clear that Nature is venting its anger on us for destroying the wet lands and lakes and marshes. Today there are buildings on areas that were once water bodies! This large scale development has had its impact. Now there aren’t any open spaces and reservoirs which can absorb the excess amount of water resulting from the floods and rains!

The Yamuna river itself has become so badly silted that its depth  has been drastically reduced with the result that it can no longer hold much water. The result of the shallowness of the Yamuna river is that the water spills over! Large scale construction on the banks of the river might have reduced its capacity to hold excess water.