New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- The week-long outburst of the Yamuna, which threatened to eclipse past records and left large swathes of Delhi and its surrounding region flooded, is set to end as the Yamuna water level inches back towards permissible limits, as it finally fell to 205.32 metres, just short of the danger mark around 10pm on Sunday. On the day, the water level was 205.38m at 7pm, 205.35m at 8pm and 205.33m at 9pm-before it finally fell below the danger mark-according to the Central Water Commission (CWC) data recorded at the Old Railway Bridge, which is considered the benchmark. To be sure, Delhi's irrigation and flood control (I&FC) department classifies 204.50 metres as the warning level, 205.33 metres as the danger level, and 206 metres as the evacuation mark. There was a steep decline in the water level from Sunday morning. The water level was at 205.62m at 6am on Sunday, which fell to 20.51m at noon and 205.47m at 3pm. The Yamuna breached the 206-metre mark in Delhi for the first time this monsoon on Tuesday evening, forcing authorities to evacuate families from low-lying areas and triggering emergency measures across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Records from the I&FC department over the past 63 years show that the Yamuna has crossed the 207-metre mark only four times, most recently in July 2023, when the river touched an unprecedented level of 208.66 metres, inundating vast swathes of the Capital. By Wednesday, several of the low-lying regions along the Yamuna floodplains were several feet under water, forcing people to shift out of their homes. At 6am on Thursday, the Yamuna touched the highest level this season, of 207.48m. It remained at 207.48m until 7am, but then fell to 207.46m by 11am and continued to decrease. The rising water level in Delhi is directly linked to massive discharges from the Hathnikund barrage, located on the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border. Triggered by incessant rainfall in the upper catchments of the Himalayas and northwestern India, the barrage had recorded peak hourly releases of over 300,000 cusecs last Monday, the highest this season. At 9am on Monday, the discharge touched 329,313 cusecs. On Sunday, however, the discharge from the Hathnikund barrage was down to 44,296 cusecs at 7pm. The discharge had finally come down below 100,000 cusecs on Friday....