Heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand pushed the Yamuna to its highest level of this monsoon, with a massive 3,29,313 cusecs of water recorded at Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar at 9 am on Monday.

Authorities said the flood-like situation is declared once the water flow crosses 2.5 lakh cusecs. At Hathnikund, the water started rising from 1.65 lakh cusecs at 4 am, touched 2.38 lakh cusecs by 6 am, and peaked at 3.29 lakh cusecs at 9 am before starting to recede. By 6 pm, the flow had dropped to 2.63 lakh cusecs.

According to the Irrigation and Water Resources Department, water from Hathnikund takes about 72 hours to reach Delhi. They classify 1-1.5 lakh cusecs as low flood, 1.5-2.5 lakh cusecs as medium flood and above 2.5 lakh cusecs as high flood.

Reports of land erosion surfaced in Tappu Kamalpur and other villages along the river. Seasonal rivulets Som and Pathrala also swelled, washing away a cremation ground shed in Rukali village.

Deputy Commissioner Parth Gupta said an alert had been sounded in vulnerable villages and schools there were closed. “An alert has been issued to the general public to be cautious so that there is no loss of life and property due to the rain. All preparations including setting up flood control rooms have been completed by the district administration,” he said.