Floods and landslides kill 60 people in Nepal

Kathmandu: 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. 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 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 also was called in to rescue workers from a under construction building using the long-line rescue method, only 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 the them already has been rescued.”

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 warning for 56 out of 77 districts about possible disasters advising people to exercise caution. (ANI)

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