District Magistrate alerts Army as rivers overflow

Allahabad: With both Ganga and Yamuna rising at an alarming rate, residents living in the catchment areas have shifted to safer places after flood water inundated low-lying areas of the city.
The water level rose to 82 mm on Monday and four metres within an interval of 48 hours after which district administration alerted the Army. The sluice gate at Allahpur and Mori Gate at Daraganj was closed to stop water from entering the area.Pumps have also been started to facilitate backflow of water to river.
District magistrate Sanjay Kumar said, "We have alerted the Army for help in case of an eventuality. The security personnel at the banks have also been increased."
This year both the rivers started swelling at once after river water of Ken, Betwa and Chambal entered Yamuna and over 1.30 lakh cusecs of water released in river Ganga from Kanpur barrage, Haridwar and Narora reached Allahabad. The swelling Yamuna pushed Ganga coming from Kanpur, pushing it back into low-lying areas of the city.
As per the data from the flood division, the water level of Ganga at Phaphamau was 81.20 metres while at Chatnag, it registered at 80.26 metres. At Yamuna also, the water level rose to 79.65 metres. The danger level of the rivers in the city has been fixed at 84.73 metres.
Manoj Kumar Singh, executive engineer, irrigation department said, "At least 61,747 cusecs from Kanpur barrage, 25,144 cusecs from Haridwar and 35,243 cusecs of water from Narora has been released in Ganga which has caused the sudden increase but by evening, the water level has become steady. At Chatnag, decrease of 7 cm was registered."
District and irrigation department authorities are keeping a close watch on the increasing water level.