Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods in Nepal, resulting in at least 47 deaths, road blockages, and the destruction of bridges.
A spokesperson of the Armed Police Force, Kalidas Dhauboji, said that landslides in the Ilam district in the east bordering India claimed the lives of thirty-five people on Sunday.
He added that nine people were missing after being washed away by floods since Friday and that three more died from lightning in other affected regions as heavy rains persisted in eastern and central Nepal.
Spokesperson of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, Shanti Mahat, states, “Rescue efforts for the missing persons are going on.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that Monday and Tuesday are government-wide public holidays, except for emergency services and disaster response forces, as the government struggles with the crisis.
According to government spokesperson Rameshwar Dangal, the heavy rains had been predicted, and this was the reason why such an odd move was taken.
The Kathmandu Post newspaper added that even meteorological officials have issued red alerts in over a dozen districts, and Department Chief Kamal Ram Joshi advised those living along the waterways to evacuate as soon as possible.
The warning encompasses main population centers, such as the capital, Kathmandu, as well as Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, and Madhesh provinces, which will suffer the brunt of further downpours until Monday morning.
The transport infrastructure has been severely damaged, and landslides have cut all major routes to Kathmandu.
Araniko Highway, linking Kathmandu and the Chinese border, is blocked by road collapses in several places, and the BP Highway, connecting the eastern parts, is covered with rubble.
Aviation authorities cancelled domestic flights on Saturday because of the poor visibility, but international flights were still possible with certain disruptions.
A spokesperson of Kathmandu airport, Rinji Sherpa, said, “Domestic flights are largely disrupted, but international flights are operating normally.”
This has been aggravated by the timing of the crisis, as hundreds of thousands of people come back home after the Dashain festivals, the biggest religious festival in Nepal.
The primary festival day was Thursday, when people were able to visit their families in their native villages in the course of the two-week festival.
Meanwhile, the Koshi River in southeastern Nepal has risen to a level that is more than twice its usual capacity.
Local authorities, Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, said that the 56 sluice gates at the Koshi Barrage were open, as compared with a normal 10 to 12, and that authorities considered restricting heavy vehicles from using the bridge. The river is known to bring catastrophic floods in the state of Bihar in India every monsoon season.
At least seven people were killed in landslides after heavy rainfall in the eastern Indian hill region of Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal, according to local media.
Reuters news agency reported that Darjeeling district police official, Abhishek Roy, states that “Seven dead bodies have already been recovered from the debris. We have information about two more people. Work is being done to recover their bodies, too.”
Every year, hundreds of people lose their lives in landslides and flash floods typical of Nepal, mostly mountainous, during the monsoon, which usually begins in mid-June and continues into mid-September.
