At least 60 people have died as incessant rainfall batters all across Nepal. 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 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.
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 others and we climbed to the top of the bus, the flood eventually swept 5 to 7 vehicles, 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.”
Recalling the ordeal, he said, “The overflowing Nakkhu River burst its embankment trapping dozens of families. A Nepal Army chopper was also called in to rescue workers from an under construction building using the long-line rescue method, only a few meters far from the site where Mandal along with his friends were rescued on Saturday afternoon.”
Asked about the total number of people who have been rescued so far, Mukesh Sharaff, one of the rescued workers who managed to escape early, said, “We were a total of 75 people in the garage.” He said, “Till afternoon about 15 of them are there and are being rescued. Rest of them has already been rescued.”
Influenced by water vapor 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 warning 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, 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 could not reach one of them and was forced to return 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 millimeters 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.