Monsoon wreaks havoc across Nepal
People climb onto a podium as the water level rises in the surrounding areas of the Bageshwori Temple on Thursday. Hundreds have been displaced in the region due to continuous heavy rainfall over the last two days.
(Photo: Janak Nepal ) Kantipur Report NEPALGUNJ, July 26 - Torrential downpours and flashfloods have rendered hundreds of people homeless in Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Udayapur, and some other districts in Terai, triggering a huge humanitarian crisis in the country.
One 12-year-old Mamata Das was killed when a flood in Mohali river swept her away in Thelia VDC, Rajbiraj of Saptari.
Bakudhuwas-9 resident Lalu Das’s daughter Mamata Das’s body was found by the police at around 2 pm.
With the latest casualty, altogether five persons have died due to monsoon-induced disasters in different parts of the country so far.
In the capital, lawmakers cutting across party lines Thursday asked the government to act swiftly to do whatever it can to rescue the flood victims.
Around one hundred families in flooded Nepalgunj have fled their homes after the water level rose up to 4 feet. The town in mid-western Nepal witnessed 151.1 mm of rainfall.
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has cut off power from 11 Thursday morning after the water level at the local electric substation located in Nepalgunj Bus Park surged by 4 feet.
The NEA officials informed that they are working on a war-footing to drain the water so that the power supply can be resumed at the earliest.
Salyanbag locality at ward number 5 of the municipality has been affected the most. Many thatched houses have partially collapsed in the area, walls of some well-built houses have also fallen down.
Almost four feet of water has accumulated at most of the houses.
More than two dozen displaced families have been forced to take shelter at a pre-primary schools in Salyanbag and 18 families are taking refuge at the municipality building.
Dozens of families displaced due to inundations in the town have complained that they have not been rescued so far.
The humanitarian crisis is likely to deepen as the displacement of many more families is apparently inevitable as the monsoon onslaught continues.
Majority of the schools have also been closed since Thursday.
All cinema halls in Nepalgunj have also been waterlogged due to lack of proper water drainage.
Elsewhere in Banke district, 15 families of Titahariya village are taking shelter at a local school as the Rapti River swells.
According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the flood in the Rapti River has risen up to 5 feet and 20 cm and is just three meters below the danger level, and the water level is rising further.
A team of police and army personnel have been dispatched to the vulnerable areas to closely monitor flooding in the river, anticipating possible flooding and risk to life and properties in the region.
Administrative Officer at the District Administration Office, Krishna Prasad Acharya said, “The team was mobilized acting on a report of flooding at Khadaicha.”
Similarly, the residents of Chaupheri village across the Rapti River have urged the local administration to relocate them to safer areas.
Six villages of Holiya VDC are on the verge of being submerged by the flooding river, said Acharya.
As many people living at the banks of the river have been facing floods for years, they have moved to higher areas.
The local administration also informed that it has prepared disaster plans incase of flooding.
Acharya said, rescue teams comprising Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, and doctors equipped with medicines are ready and can be dispatched at any time round the clock.
Moreover, two boats have been sent to the banks of the river to aide the emergency rescue operations.
In neighbouring Bardiya district, the overflowing Babai River has waterlogged hundreds of houses in Mohamedpur and Suryagauri villages.
The local administration added floods in Babai and Karnali Rivers have dispalced around two thousand people.
Rajapur Tappu and many other villages in Bardiya have been cut off from the district headquarters. Some 15 hundred people have been displaced from the villages.
Army and police personnel have been mobilized in the areas.
The district has plunged into darkness with the electricity supply disconnected.
Life in north-eastern Kailali has also been badly affected due to heavy rainfall.
Nearly two dozen families have been displaced after their homes were waterlogged, the District Police Office said.
They have taken refuge at nearby Bhajani Bazaar.
Likewise, a number of houses at wards 5, 6 and 9 of Thapapur VDC have also been inundated.
Local residents have taken shelter at the local Krishnadhwaj Secondary School as well as houses and a police station at Mohanyaan VDC.
After the local Kada, Pathariya, Kunda and Mohana Rivers flooded, the nearby areas have been submerged.
“There have been no human casualties,” Superintendent of Police Ganesh Rai said adding, “However, crops have been destroyed.”
The incessant rainfall has also affected other districts such as Udayapur, Jhapa, Sarlahi, Siraha, Saptari, Dang.
Likewise, two people lost their lives in a landslide and more than a dozen villages including Triyoga Municipality are under water in Udayapur, according to our Udayapur correspondent.
Around 150 houses have been inundated in Tapeshwar VDC alone.
Around 200 house holds of Fattepur Bazzar have been affected due to flooding in Triyoga River.
Our Jhapa correspondent reports that the flooded Kamala River has displaced 35 families at Dharampur VDC.
A team of Nepal Police has begun rescue operations in the area.
Sources informed, a team of Nepal Army is also being deployed to rescue the residents and cattle stuck in the flood.
Also in Jhapa, 100 bighas of paddy fields have been swept away at Khoklabari village due to the swelling Kamala and Kankai River in Mahabar VDC. At least 45 families of Dharampur village have also been displaced.
The incessant rainfall, which started a week back, has destroyed nearly 200 huts, houses while the Hulaki road has been disrupted in the district.
Ten families in Damak and 45 families of Dharampur VDC-1 have also been displaced by the floods.
Similarly, 37 houses of Sukumbasi were destroyed by the floods in Anarmuni VDC-7. They have been taken by the police to safe areas.
About two dozen families were displaced due to the flood in Satasidham-8.
At least 13 villages in Saptari have been flooded after the Bhim embankment at Kunaule on Nepal-India border collapsed.
Dozens of houses have been inundated at Rajbiraj and Kalyanpur.
Food storages have been ruined due to the flood in Topa Bazzar.
Various VDCs are under water due to the Kamala, Mainawarti, Gagal, Sahaja and Galti Rivers overflooding in Siraha.
Police sources said, 25 out of 55 dam-doors of the Koshi Barrage have been opened, after the current in the Sapta Koshi River increased rapidly.
Similarly, landslides triggered in Palpa by the continuous rainfall have obstructed four major roads and more than 50 sub-roads.
Several dozen houses were destroyed by the rain, District Police Office, Rautahat said.
Around 60 families have taken refuge in schools and other safe places after their houses were waterlogged after the Mainawati River in Arnama in Lahan over-flooded.
One Kuleshor Mahara and 11-year-old Rina Kumari were injured in separate incidents when their houses collapsed due to the rain.
Maoist cantonments, ex-Kamaiyas also affected
Heavy rainfall over the last few days has affected Maoist cantonment sites in Kailali district.
Water has entered the makeshift camps and bunkers at the Maoist camps at Taalband, Gaurange and Sahajpur of Chisapani and Baidhpur of Musuriya.
“Due to the floods, we’ve been unable to get clean drinking water,” Brigade commander of Taalband, Singhraj said. “We were forced to send a number of pregnant and lactating mothers to take shelter in houses in a nearby village.”
The combatants complained that they have also not been able to eat and sleep properly.
Makeshift camps housing freed Kamaiyas at places such as the old airport in Dhangadi, Manahara and Geta in the district have also been flooded.
Many of them have been displaced, though an exact number is yet to be ascertained.
Posted on: 2007-07-26 02:47:10 (Server Time)
