For a few hours, a river flowed along Red Fort

Paintings from the era show the river flowing alongside the fort. Today, the Ring Road abuts the fort leading towards the ISBT at Kashmere Gate.

The Archeological Survey of India said that the fort will remain shut on Friday due to “heavy monsoon and rain fall”.

Posh areas inundated

Residents across several areas in North, Northeast and East Delhi also woke up to find the river at their doorstep — and inside their homes. Late last night, the water levels had crossed 208 metres, the highest-ever in 45 years.

Issuing alerts throughout Thursday, the Delhi Traffic Police said many important roads and areas — Civil Lines, Raj Ghat, Delhi Secretariat, Signature Bridge, Majnu Ka Tila — were submerged and vehicular movement had to be stopped.

In Civil Lines, police said houses and shops were submerged. The water entered bungalows on the Sham Nath Marg, with some residents seeking refuge on the higher floors while others on the road wondered what they would do.

“Water has entered our house; this has never happened before. I went out at 7 am to drive my children to school and there was no water at that time. As I returned, I found my house filling up with water,” Nitin Dubey, a resident, said.

Bhanu Verma, a mechanic, meanwhile, arrived at his workshop at 6 am to find it one-foot deep in water. “I believed it wouldn’t get much deeper, but by 9 am, my entire shop was submerged and I had to relocate the cars with the help of a boat. The cars belonged to my customers… I’ll have to bear the losses and get them fixed right away,” he said.

A century-old shrine on Sham Nath Marg, Civil Lines, has also been inundated. Rajesh Sharma, who manages the temple, was the first person in the region to notify other shop and business owners. “Our family has lived in this temple since 1923; formerly, when a flood warning was issued, the water would disappear within an hour or two… Nobody in our three generations has seen a disaster like this in this area,” he said.

Police said water crossed the low-lying areas and even reached ITO road, throwing traffic out of gear for all those travelling to New Delhi and Central Delhi. “We also had to clear traffic in Southeast Delhi’s Okhla and Jasola Vihar as the river inundated the main roads. Water was knee-deep at Kalindi Kunj flyover,” said an officer.

The Ashram Chowk-DND flyway route was also hit.

The flood also affected metro routes and bus movement. Entry and Exit to the Yamuna Bank metro station was shut and trains running on the four bridges over the river ran at a controlled speed of 30 km/h.

Police said rescue operations were conducted in Khajuri Khas, New Usmanpur, Yamuna Bazaar, Monastery Market as families were stuck in low-lying areas.

Meanwhile, movement of around 400 passenger trains were affected between July 7 and July 13 in addition to 600 mail/express trains being affected in the past 6 days, the Railways said Thursday.

Northern Railway has had to divert 101 mail/express trains and 26 passenger trains to avoid the Yamuna Bridge.