New Delhi: At Mori Gate, 33-year-old Neetu stood in front of a medical team at a relief camp set up inside a Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, complaining of severe headache and numbness in her hands. “I am worried. I can’t eat anything. It feels like there is no energy left,” she told ThePrint.
Originally from Bihar but in Delhi for nearly two decades, Neetu has now been displaced twice in as many days. On 2 September, she and her family were first moved to a makeshift canopy camp in Yamuna Bazaar after their house was fully submerged. By 3 September night, even that temporary shelter was flooded, forcing them to shift again.
“When water comes, it doesn’t bring just one problem,” she said, recalling the ordeal of the last big flood. “Things are scattered, then you have to clean the mud, clean the house, buy things again. Last time we lost about Rs 2 lakh, TV, fridge, cooler, home theatre, everything was gone. I had never seen so much water in my life.”
The Yamuna’s water level in Delhi touched 207.43 metres by 10 pm on 3 September, the third-highest level since records were registered in 1963, after crossing the danger mark of 206 metres on 2 September.
According to the Central Water Commission, at 3 pm Thursday, the Yamuna’s level was at 207.45 meters, following the 1,32,295 cusecs of water released from Haryana’s Hathnikund Barrage, 2,44,478 cusecs from the Okhla Barrage, and 1,93,090 cusecs from the Wazirabad Barrage.
Areas including Yamuna Bazaar, Geeta Colony, Majnu ka Tila, Kashmiri Gate, Garhi Mandu, and Mayur Vihar were inundated, displacing around 12,000 people.
For residents, the scenes have revived haunting memories of July 2023, when the river had similarly swallowed entire colonies. “That time, it filled in just a day. Nothing could be taken out. We spent six to seven days hungry and worried,” Neetu recalled.
Recurring displacement
On 3 September, ThePrint found the ground floors of entire residential clusters in Yamuna Bazaar under water. Some residents swam across to salvage essentials; others stayed put on second floors despite repeated evacuation appeals.
However, during the evening, even the temporary camps set up along the embankments were not spared. According to an RWA member, water gushed in after a wall of the nearby crematorium collapsed, forcing hundreds to move again.
Most were rescued NDRF, Civil Defence, DDMA, and Delhi Police teams.
“Several buses and police vans were deployed to shift people to safer locations,” a DDMA official said. By Thursday afternoon, 225 displaced residents had been shifted to the Sarvodaya Vidyalaya at Mori Gate, a DDMA official confirmed.
The school’s auditorium has been turned into a shelter, while additional makeshift canopies have been erected outside. Food boxes are being distributed, but anxiety runs high.
“I can’t eat anything, I am so tense,” Neetu said. “My child had burnt his leg and now the injury has worsened because of the water. It’s been 15 days—water keeps coming and going. It was raining from above and flooding from below.”
Manju Devi, another resident, sat on a mattress in the school and offered a resigned view: “Nuksaan toh hai (there is loss), but what can we do? We are living near the Yamuna, some consequences we will have to face.”
Others avoided official camps altogether. A family which managed to save some belongings—a cart, a camp cot—shifted to the footpath above the Yamuna Bazaar underpass, others moved to nearby parks in the area around Red Fort.
“We didn’t wait for buses. As soon as the water reached knee level, I packed up and left,” said Rakhi, 42, who lives in Yamuna Bazaar with her husband and three children. “How many things could we have carried to the school? We have children too. We left some belongings on the roof of our house, which was almost submerged. But since it’s a tin roof, we couldn’t put too much weight on it. So some things we brought with us, some we managed to bring on a battery rickshaw, and the rest we carried on foot from the highway.”
For her, the greater worry now is disease. “In this situation, I’m more afraid of mosquitoes. I have kids. We didn’t even get the compensation we were promised after the 2023 floods. We don’t trust the government, we know we are on our own,” she added.
Nearby, 46-year-old Hemanta, sitting on a cart in a park near the Red Fort, echoed the same sense of resignation. “At that time, the only thing that mattered was saving our lives. Jaan bach jaegi to wapas kama lenge aur kharid lenge (If our life is saved, we can earn and buy again).
What the government is doing
Despite the devastation, many residents acknowledged that things could have been worse. They credited the raised embankments, reinforced after the 2023 floods, with preventing an even bigger disaster.
On 13 July 2023, the Yamuna surged past its previous record of 207.49 metres, reaching 208.66 metres—the highest ever recorded. Iconic sites like the Red Fort’s ramparts were inundated. Over 25,000 people had to be evacuated from low-lying areas like Monastery Market, Kashmere Gate, Civil Lines, and stretches from Wazirabad to Majnu Ka Tila. Relief camps housed tens of thousands in more than 2,700 tents.
“That year was worse than we could ever imagine,” said 45-year-old Heera Devi recalling how her family slept near a railway crossing because even the shelters were flooded. “We had no food or water. At least this time, the government has arranged food.”
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who visited the relief camps, sought to reassure residents. “The Delhi government and all departments are fully alert. The situation is being monitored throughout the day,” she said in a post on X. Gupta said that extensive desilting of the Yamuna and drains over the past six months had helped water flow without stagnation. “All gates are open, and the water is moving forward unhindered at the same speed as it is coming.”
In addition to evacuating residents safely from the flooded area, concerted efforts were underway to lower water levels. Powerful pumps are being used to extract excess water and expedite drainage. Two-three big pumps were being used at Yamuna Bazaar when ThePrint visited.
To prevent water from re-entering the area, especially due to reverse flows, sandbags were strategically placed around key drain inlets and low-lying points.
A team of doctors has been deployed at key flood-affected locations, including Yamuna Bazaar, Geeta Colony, Parshuram Enclave, Pradhan Enclave, and Majnu ka Tila, to provide essential medicines such as zinc tablets, paracetamol, WHO-recommended ORS, and eye drops, all in sufficient quantity.
According to a Delhi health department advisory accessed by ThePrint, “All drugs and logistics, including BP monitoring apparatus and stethoscopes, will be arranged by the medical officer concerned from their parent dispensary or through indent.”
Submerged makeshift homes
A few kilometers from Yamuna Bazaar, in Geeta Colony, families that once lived under the flyover have now shifted to the flyover itself, where more than a dozen makeshift tents line both sides. The jhuggis below lie completely submerged. Women wash clothes in floodwater, while children jump in and out, treating it like a swimming pool.
But for 48-year-old Jamila Khatoon, the sight is heartbreaking. Having lived in Delhi since the age of 13, she said, “After 2023, we are not surprised. Our kids have not been to school for days. We have lost most of our belongings again. The government food is not enough for the whole family.”
Jamila, who lost both her husband and son some time ago, said bitterly, “The Prime Minister says jahan jhuggi, vahan ghar. Is this the home he meant? They should have been better prepared.”
Not far from her tent, two elderly men pointed across the road to a parked tanker. “Look at that tanker, it’s been standing there since morning, but no water,” one of them said. “This is how difficult it is, and it will get much worse in the coming days.”
Residents who left their homes in a hurry are still searching for what they left behind. On Thursday, 28-year-old Rakesh swam back to his half-submerged home, not for furniture or ration, but for something far more important to him: His daughter’s school shoes.
“We didn’t get time to take everything out yesterday,” he said, dripping wet as he stepped on to dry ground. “My daughter needs her shoes. She has already missed school.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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