170 dead in Nepal floods, search operation on for 42 missing people

The death toll from rain-triggered floods and landslides across Nepal climbed to 170 with 42 people missing on Sunday, officials said.

Large swathes of eastern and central Nepal have been inundated since Friday, with flash floods reported in parts of the country.

According to police, 170 people have been killed so far due to floods and landslides across Nepal.

According to Home Ministry officials, 42 people are missing in floods, landslides and inundation.

As many as 111 people have sustained injuries in flood-related incidents, Ministry of Home Affairs spokesperson Rishiram Pokharel said.Search and rescue operations are underway with the mobilisation of all the security agencies, he said, adding that the Nepal Army has airlifted 162 people from across the country.

As many as 4,000 people affected by flood and inundation have been rescued by the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel, Pokharel said.

All necessary relief materials, including food grains, have been distributed to those rescued, he said.

In the Balkhu area on the outskirts of Kathmandu, meals were distributed to 400 people with the help of social workers, the spokesperson said.

National highways have been blocked since Saturday, with hundreds of people stranded on various highways due to landslides.

Efforts are underway to clear national highways where roads are obstructed due to flood, landslide and inundation. Transport has resumed at the Tribhuvan Highway, the main land route connecting Kathmandu to other districts, Pokharel said.

The floods damaged at least 322 houses and 16 bridges across Nepal.

Eyewitnesses said they have never seen such a devastating flood and inundation in the Kathmandu Valley in 40-45 years.

“I’ve never before seen flooding on this scale in Kathmandu,” said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, Climate and Environmental expert at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Kathmandu’s main river, the Bagmati, was flowing above danger levels after incessant rain lashed much of eastern and central Nepal on Friday and Saturday, a report published by ICIMOD said.

A low-pressure system in the Bay of Bengal and the more northerly than usual position of the monsoon trough was the reason behind Saturday’s exceptionally intense rain, it said.

Scientists say that while climate change is changing the amount and timing of rainfall across Asia, a key reason for the rise in the impact of floods is the built environment, including unplanned construction, especially on floodplains, which leaves insufficient areas for water retention and drainage.

The floods and landslides have thrown life out of gear in many parts of the country, with many highways and road stretches disrupted, hundreds of houses and bridges buried or swept away, and hundreds of families displaced.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded in various places due to road disruption.

At least 19 people were killed on Saturday when a bus was buried in a landslide in Dhading district bordering Kathmandu. Five people died when a house collapsed under a landslide in the city of Bhaktapur.

Six football players were also killed in a landslide at a training centre operated by the All Nepal Football Association in Makwanpur. Others have been swept up in the floodwaters.

Meanwhile, despite the forecast for rain to continue until Tuesday, there were signs of some easing on Sunday.