Heavy Rain Causes Floods And Landslides In Nepal, Dozens Died

Nepalese floods. (Twitter/@ViralVolT1)

JAKARTA - Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods that blocked roads, swept away bridges and killed at least 47 people since Friday in Nepal, officials said Sunday.

Thirty-five people died in a separate landslide in the eastern Ilam district bordering India, said Kalidas Dhauboji, a spokesman for Nepal Police.

Nine people disappeared after being swept away by floods and three others died from lightning strikes elsewhere in Nepal, he added.

"Saving efforts for missing persons are ongoing," said Shanti Mahat, spokeswoman for Nepal's Disaster Risk Reduction and National Management Authority.

Across the border in the Darjeeling hills area in West Bengal, eastern India, at least seven people died from landslides after heavy rains, according to local media reports.

"Seven bodies have been found from the rubble. We have information about two more people. Efforts to evacuate their bodies are also being carried out," said Abhishek Roy, a police official in the Darjeeling district, on Sunday, according to a post from India news agency ANI on social media X.

Several highways were blocked by landslides and swept away by floods, causing hundreds of passengers to be abandoned, authorities said.

"Domestic flights are largely disrupted, but international flights are operating normally," said Rinji Sherpa, spokeswoman for Kathmandu airport, Nepal's largest international gateway.

In southeastern Nepal, the Koshi River, which causes deadly flooding in eastern India's Bihar state almost every year, flows above the hazard rate, a district official said.

Meanwhile, Sunsari Dharmandra District Governor Kumarmengatakan, seluruh 56 pintu air Bendungan Koshi telah dibuka untuk mengalirkan air, dibandingkan dengan sekitar 10 hingga 12 pintu air dalam situasi normal. Ia menambahkan, pihak berwenang telah melarang lalu lintas kendaraan di jembatan tersebut.

In Kathmandu which is surrounded by hills, several rivers have flooded roads and submerged many houses, cutting off road access to the temple-filled capital city from other regions of the country.

Hundreds of people die each year from landslides and flash floods common in Nepal, most of which are mounting during the rainy season, which usually starts in mid-June and continues until mid-September.

Weather officials said rain was likely to flush the Himalayan nation until Monday, and authorities said they were taking "maximum precautions and vigilance" to help disaster-affected communities.