NEW DELHI: Tushia Devi, a housemaker, woke up to realise that her house was filled with floodwater. "Everywhere you look, there is water," she said.
Her family is among other 3,000-odd families living in 'jhuggis' (slums) along the Yamuna where the water level crossed the danger mark of 204.83 m on Saturday. Haryana released about six lakh cusecs of water from the Hathnikund Barrage that led to the flooding of low-lying Yamuna banks.
Only the roof of her house, which comes in the limits of the Seelampur police station, is visible now. "Will the level of water ever go down?" Tushia asked, while registering her name for a makeshift tent being set up near the ISBT flyover at Kashmere Gate. The rest of her family sat on the only wooden bed they could retrieve from their home.
On the other side of the flyover, families from the low-lying area that comes in the limits of Usmanpur police station, also moved up into makeshift tents, extending onto the sidewalks till Shastri Park DMRC Depot.
For 13-year-old Tabassum, living on sidewalk in a tent is "embarrassing." "What would the passerby think on seeing us living like this?" she said. "In the morning I dress up for the school, hiding in the bushes. There are no toilets nearby. So, I use the one in my school, while the others defecate in open."
Tabassum's family of seven got a tent on Tuesday morning. Until then, they spent three nights sleeping on carpets or blankets. Her father, Mohammad Nazim, a labourer and also a toy seller, hasn't gone to work as he is "afraid to leave his three daughters" on the sidewalk.
What began with 27 families have swelled to 3,000 families seeking shelter at makeshift camps, said District Magistrate, North-East district, Shashi Kaushal. "We will be providing tents by today, while the rest of the facilities including toilets, dispensary and food and water have been arranged."
"The North-East district administration and the Delhi District Management Authority (DDMA) are working round-the-clock to ensure the safety of the people. We identified the flood-prone areas and rehabilitated the people to higher altitude and safer places. We have established around 300 tents at various locations. We are also coordinating with all the emergency support functionaries for the deployment of water tank, DUSIB mobile toilets, electricity, food etc," said a DDMA officer.
According to the flood control department, Haryana released about 18,367 cusecs of water on Tuesday afternoon. Water level remained at 206.05 m in the evening. "The flow is expected to reduce in the coming days. The floodplains will come back to normal if water is not released in the coming days," said an official from the flood control department.