The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA) also issued warnings for 56 out of 77 districts about possible disasters advising people to exercise caution
Kathmandu [Nepal]: At least 66 people have been killed in Nepal since early on Friday as persistent downpours triggered flooding and landslides, closing major roads and disrupting domestic air travel, officials said on Saturday.
The death toll could rise, they added, with another 69 people reported missing, and 60 injured since Friday morning, home ministry official Dil Kumar Tamang told Reuters.
Most of the deaths took place in the Kathmandu valley, which is home to 4 million people and the country’s capital, where the flooding brought traffic and normal activity to a standstill.
Rescue workers used helicopters and rubber boats to help people stranded on rooftops or elevated ground as some parts of Kathmandu reported up to 322.2 mm (12.68 inches) of rain over the last day.
Most rivers in the Himalayan nation have swollen, spilling over roads and bridges, authorities said, after nearly a week’s delay in the retreat of South Asia’s annual monsoon rains brought torrential downpours across the region.
The government has deployed more than 20,000 security personnel for the search and rescue operation.
The Kathmandu Valley, comprising Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur alone, recorded 34 deaths in a single day due to water logging and landslides on the slopes.
Five different districts of Bagmati Province recorded an additional 19 deaths, while Koshi Province recorded 7 deaths in the past 24 hours.
As per the police, dozens of others are missing across the country, with the rescue operation ongoing with the deployment of choppers, motorboats and other possible means.
“In Kathmandu, 11 people are recorded dead while Lalitpur reported 18 and Bhaktapur reported 5 deaths within 24 hours,” SSP Binod Ghimire from Kathmandu Valley Police Office confirmed ANI.
International flights are operating, but many domestic flights have been disrupted, said Rinji Sherpa, a spokesperson for Kathmandu airport.
The Koshi River in the southeast, which causes deadly floods in India’s eastern neighbouring state of Bihar almost every year, was running above the danger level at 450,000 cusecs, versus the normal figure of 150,000 cusecs, one official said.
A cusec is a measurement of water flow equivalent to one cubic foot a second.
The river level is still rising, added Ram Chandra Tiwari, the area’s top bureaucrat.
Hundreds of people die in the monsoon season every year in the landslides and flash floods common in the mountainous nation.
Authorities said at least 254 people have died and 65 missing in landslides, floods and lightning strikes since mid-June when the annual monsoon rains started.
The security agencies- Nepal Army, Armed Police Force (APF) and the Nepal Police rescued 1415 people from various locations of valley.Nepal Army and Armed Police Force (APF) personnel used the zip-line rescue and long-line rescue techniques to bring stranded people to safer place.Nepal’s Koshi province CM Hikmat Kumar Karki visited Koshi barrage in Supaul to review the rising water level situation.
“Last evening, we had our dinner at around 8 PM (NST) and slept off. The water started entering our garage after 10:30 PM (NST), few of my friends managed to escape the flash flood and reached to a safer ground. The flood engulfed the area and swept few vehicles, I woke up others and we climbed to the top of the bus, we spent whole night there. The flood eventually swept 5 to 7 vehicles, three motorcycles, and other parts of the vehicle. Staying on the top of the vehicle since last night, we are now rescued in the afternoon by the security forces,” Jitendra Mandal, one of the rescued workers from a garage engulfed by Nakkhu River told ANI after arriving at the shelter.
A total of 75 workers were in the garage built on the embankments of the Nakkhu River in Kusunti of Lalitpur. Security personnel working for hours were able to rescue them using zip-line rescue who are now kept in a school and will be relocated to the safer place later.
Jitendra Mandal, rescued worker in Lalitpur, said, “We were slowly losing our hopes. We thought it’s our last day because the other buses were also gradually being washed away.”
Influenced by water vapour from the Bay of Bengal and a low-pressure system in the region, Nepal since Thursday evening had been witnessing heavy downpours.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA) also issued warnings for 56 out of 77 districts about possible disasters advising people to exercise caution.
As of Saturday evening, floods, landslides, inundation and erosion have caused damage in 44 districts across the country, as per the Police. Among them, various road sections of 39 districts have been completely blocked. As the rain battered the bowl-shaped valley overflowing the rivers, people faced problems in continuing with their day-to-day routine works.
Speaking to ANI, Ram Prasad Ghimire, a resident, said, “The spontaneous rainfall in the last two days has impacted people living along the river banks or the river sides of Kathmandu valley. The residential areas within the Kathmandu Valley which lacks proper drainage systems is facing the problem of inundation. I had to travel to altogether four places of Kathmandu but only could reach one of them but couldn’t and was forced to return back home.”
Home to the world’s nine of the ten highest peaks in the world, Nepal this year already had estimated more rain than average and 1.8 million people will be affected by it. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) also had estimated 412 thousand households to be affected by monsoon-related disasters.
The monsoon season in the Himalayan Nation generally begins on June 13. The exit, which was usually on September 23, has been extended to late October.This year, the clouds from the south entered Nepal from the western region on June 10, three days ahead of the usual onset date. Last year, the weather phenomenon started on June 14, a day after the normal onset day.
The monsoon period, which delivers around 80 percent of the country’s total annual rainfall, generally lasts 105 days. But, in recent years, it has been taking more time to withdraw. Nepal has already recorded above-average rainfall this season.
According to Met Office data, the country received 1,586.3 millimetres of rainfall as of Friday morning since the monsoon entered on June 10, 107.2 percent-7.2 per cent above the average monsoon rainfall.
Normally, Nepal receives an average of 1,472 mm of rainfall in the four months – June, July, August, and September. In 2023, Nepal witnessed only 1,303 mm of rainfall in the season, 88.5 per cent of the average.