Delhi flood evacuees returning home

Keeping their fingers crossed, residents of the capital's low-lying areas who were rendered homeless by the swollen Yamuna are returning to their houses, an official said Sunday.

Starting June 17, nearly 10,000 people were evacuated from areas like Usmanpur, Yamuna Bazar, Bhajanpura, Shastri Park and Tibetan Market along the Yamuna's banks and shifted to over 1,100 relief camps set up by the city government. The river's water level rose to the 207.25 metres late Wednesday - way above the danger mark of 204.83 metres.

As the Yamuna receded Sunday to a little over 203 metres, people with concrete houses in areas like Usmanpur, Yamuna Bazar and Tibetan Market started returning home, a flood and irrigation department official said.

Pyarelal, 40, a scooter mechanic living in a relief camp in Usmanpur in east Delhi, said: "It was tough living in the camps as it was hot and not at all comfortable. My house has not suffered much damage and it will take a few hours to clean it up."

Others like vendor Amarpal Singh, 45, would have to wait a few more days before they can get back to their houses.

"My house was submerged in water and completely destroyed. I will have to build a new one but can't as the ground is still covered with slush and the area has not dried up," said Singh.

Some displaced residents are constantly troubled by the thoughts of the impending rains, especially after the weather department forecast showers June 25.

"I hope the monsoon is weak this year as more rains will only increase our troubles. I don't want to live in the camps," said Lumansa Droklein, 23, a resident of Tibetan Colony in north Delhi.

"We can move back to our house, provided the weather remains dry in the days ahead... more rains will mean that we will have to live in these camps for the whole monsoon," said Bimla Rana, 60, an evacuee at a camp opposite Akshardham temple in east Delhi.

Some evacuees, meanwhile, continue to face health hazards due to unhygienic conditions near the camps.

"There is garbage, animal and human feces lying all around in the open...it won't be surprising if someone falls seriously ill," said Sunita Devi, 35, a homemaker based in a relief camp on a bund near Mayur Vihar in east Delhi.

The Delhi government has been spraying anti-malarial chemicals daily in the camps to check mosquito-breeding, and supplying chlorine tablets to help the residents clean drinking water.

Many low-lying areas in east and north Delhi were inundated by the Yamuna, whose water level rose to the 207.25-metre mark late Wednesday, the highest since 1978 when it reached 207.49 metres.

The 145-year-old double-decker rail-cum-road steel bridge over the Yamuna behind the Red Fort was closed to traffic for two days due to fears of damage by the river's strong current. The bridge was re-opened Thursday.