Floods force Indian capital to shut schools, offices, and plan water rationing

NEW DELHI: Flooding in parts of New Delhi forced the city government to close all education institutions in India's capital on Thursday and advise people to work from home, while warning that there would be water rationing after the Yamuna river broke its banks.

Since the rainy monsoon season began on June 1, Delhi has recorded 113% above-average rainfall, the India Meteorological Department said, and the rains in the hilly states to the north have fed the river's floodwaters.

Video footage showed submerged roads in the downtown area, where government and private companies' offices are located, with water half-way up the sides of parked cars. Other images showed the road by the city's historical Red Fort under water.

"I appeal to all the people of Delhi to cooperate with each other in every possible way in this emergency," Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, warning that water supplies would be badly affected.

"Due to closure of water treatment plants, the supply of water will be affected by up to 25%. That's why water rationing will be done," Kejriwal told reporters.

The city of 20 million people has ordered the closure of all schools, colleges and universities until Sunday and stopped non-essential government staff from coming to office, Kejriwal said, adding that private firms were also being advised "to implement work from home."

Kejriwal said the Yamuna's level would peak later on Thursday, having already reached it highest levels in 45 years as a result of the unusually heavy downpours north of the capital.

The states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand have recorded 105%, 91% and 22% more rain than average, respectively, since the monsoon season began.

With pets on their shoulders and pots and pans in their hands, hundreds of people living on the banks of the river waded through flooded pathways on Wednesday to reach some of the 2,500 relief camps set up to provide temporary shelter.

Flooding at a trauma centre in the posh Civil Lines neighbourhood - where Kejriwal and many top officials live - forced the transfer of dozens of patients to another hospital, ANI news agency reported.

At least 88 people have died in Himachal Pradesh during the incessant rains since June 24, ANI reported. Flash floods in the state over the weekend brought down a bridge and washed away several clusters of hutments.

Roads have been washed away during heavy rains in the mountainous Uttarakhand state, its chief minister told reporters on Wednesday.