New Delhi, Aug. 19 -- For the first time in over two years, the Yamuna breached the danger mark of 205.33 metres on Monday, triggering alarm in the city and prompting Delhi's chief minister to conduct an on-ground inspection of flood preparedness. Authorities said evacuations of families living in low-lying areas would begin once the river crosses 206m. By Monday evening, the Yamuna had already surged to 205.63m, and the Central Water Commission (CWC) forecast that it was likely to rise further, breaching 206m by 2am on Tuesday. Among the first to bear the brunt was Rasina Khatoon, 27, who lives in a makeshift tent in Sonia Vihar with her husband and three children. By evening, water had begun seeping into her home. Her utensils and clothes, carefully wrapped in plastic, were stacked on a charpoy, ready to be moved at a moment's notice. "At 3am today, we woke up to the sound of water rushing into our house," she said, sitting on the edge of her tent and glancing nervously at the river behind her. "We managed to save a few belongings, but most of our vegetables and other things were destroyed. Every year, it is the same story." Her family, like many others along the floodplains, grows vegetables and rears livestock on the fertile land by the river. But with the Yamuna swelling fast, Khatoon knows they will soon have to abandon their plot and shift to higher ground until the river recedes. According to CWC data, the river was flowing at 204.7 metres at 5am on Monday, before rising rapidly through the day. It crossed 205 metres at 10am, breached the danger mark at 2pm, and was still rising late into the evening. The sudden surge followed heavy discharges from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana. Officials said over 100,000 cusecs of water was released for nearly 12 straight hours between 1pm on Sunday and 1am on Monday, including a peak discharge of 178,996 cusecs at 4pm - the season's highest. To warn residents, the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) department deployed 34 of its 40 boats. Loudspeakers and microphones blared across the riverbanks, asking people to prepare for evacuation. For families along the Yamuna, evacuation is an annual ritual. In Yamuna Bazaar, where rickshaw drivers and daily wage earners live in tarpaulin shelters, people said they had already been warned by government officials."They told us to keep our belongings safe and be ready to move at short notice," said Sanjay Sharma, 53, who runs a snack shop overlooking the river. "This is nothing new for us. We've evacuated many times over the years." By contrast, last year's peak was only 204.38 metres - below even the warning level. Data from the I&FC department shows that in the past 63 years, the Yamuna has crossed its warning level in 53 years, the 205-metre mark in 43 years, and the 206-metre mark in 14 years. The 207-metre mark has been breached just four times - most recently in 2023....