Two highways, villages flooded in Haryana

CHANDIGARH - Two highways were under water and over 30 villages in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district and some low-lying villages in the Ambala district were flooded as the Yamuna and other rivers in the state witnessed increased inflow due to rains upstream, officials said Thursday.

The Yamunanagar district bore the brunt of the overflowing Yamuna with two national highways — Number 73 (Ambala Saharanpur) and Number 73-A (Chharauli-Paonta Sahib) — going under two to five feet of water at various places. Traffic had to be diverted from both the highways.

Over 30 villages in Yamunanagar district were inundated. These included Chougam, Hansu Majra, Garhi Birbal, Garhpur Tapu, Palsora, Halwana, Nabiyabad, Japti Chhapra, Sayed Chhapra, Nagli and Dera Sikkligarh.

Ashok Sangwan, deputy commissioner of Yamunanagar, told IANS: “Our rescue and safety work is on and we have also told the army to remain on standby. Many flood victims have been shifted to safer locations and we have made all arrangements to tackle any kind of emergency.”

“However, we have observed that the water level of the Yamuna, which was in spate Wednesday, has started receding.”

Administration officials in other districts like Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Sonepat have also been put on alert.

Due to heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh and in various parts of Haryana over the last couple of days, there has been heavy inflow of water in the Yamuna, Som, Pathrala, Markanda, Tangri, Ghaggar and Roon rivers.

In Ambala, flood waters entered some low-lying villages.

“There has been a sudden rise in the water level of Markanda and Tangri rivers. Though water has also entered some low-lying villages, the overall situation is under control. We have also alerted the army and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to help in case of any emergency,” S.P. Srow, deputy commissioner of Ambala, told IANS.

Apart from rains upstream, the water inflow in the Yamuna has increased due to discharge of nearly 325,000 cusecs of water from the Hathnikund barrage Aug 21 and 22.

A spokesman of Haryana irrigation department said: “During the second spell of very heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh in the catchment area of river Yamuna, Markanda, Tangri and Ghaggar rivers Sep 7-8, heavy flow has been seen in all the rivers of Haryana Sep 8.”

“On September 8, the water discharge in the Yamuna was 465,000 cusecs at 10 a.m. at Hathnikund barrage which increased to 519,000 cusecs at 11 a.m. and touched a peak of 607,000 cusecs at 3 p.m,” he said.

Four breaches have been observed on various soil embankment on the Som and Pathrala rivers. The spokesman added that the Tajewala barrage in the Yamunanagar district has been damaged owing to heavy inflow in the Yamuna.

The fury of the Yamuna continued to pose a threat to low-lying areas in national capital New Delhi Thursday as well.

Over 600,000 cusecs of water was released from Hathnikund barrage in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district, 270 km from Delhi Wednesday.

This was the highest inflow of water released towards Delhi in recent weeks, raising fears of a flood in the national capital.

Haryana irrigation department officials said Thursday that over 707,000 cusecs of water in the Yamuna, including over 100,000 cusecs from the Som river, had passed Karnal and Panipat districts Thursday. Panipat city is about 90 km from Delhi.