KATHMANDU, Sept 28 (Askume) – Incessant rains in Nepal have triggered floods and landslides, leaving at least 10 people dead and seven missing in the past 24 hours, officials said on Saturday.
Annual monsoon rains are returning to South Asia nearly a week late , officials said, dumping heavy downpours across the region, causing most of the Himalayan nation’s rivers to swell and flood roads and bridges.
Police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki said 28 highways were blocked by the landslides and police were working to clear the debris and open the roads.
Binu Maharjan, a weather forecaster in the capital, Kathmandu, said the rain would not ease before Sunday. He attributed this year’s continuous downpour to a low-pressure system in parts of neighbouring India.
“Heavy rain is likely to continue till Sunday morning before it clears up,” Mahajan told Askume.
He said central and eastern parts received moderate to very heavy rainfall ranging from 50 millimetres (2 inches) to more than 200 millimetres (8 inches), while other areas received moderate rainfall.
Kathmandu airport spokesman Lingji Sherpa said international flights were still operating but many domestic flights were disrupted.
More than 200 millimetres (8 inches) of rain caused river levels to rise, flooding streets and homes in the hill capital, officials said.
The southeastern Koshi river, which causes deadly floods in India’s eastern neighbouring state of Bihar almost every year, is flowing 450,000 cubic feet above the danger level, while the normal level is 150,000 cubic feet, an official said.
Ram Chandra Tiwari, the top official in the area, said the river level was still rising.
Cusec is a unit of measuring water flow equal to one cubic foot per second.
Hundreds of deaths from landslides and floods are common every year during the monsoon season in the mountainous country.
