BHUBANESWAR, Sept 27 — Heavy rain and storms have triggered floods and landslides across parts of India and neighbouring Nepal, killing at least 19 people and leaving 10 missing as rivers rose above danger levels, authorities said.
In India’s Uttar Pradesh state, 15 people were killed and five injured over the past 48 hours, while 117 houses were damaged, state authorities said in a statement yesterday.
Heavy rain and storms affected 63 districts, with the state recording 19 times its normal rainfall in 24 hours.
In Nepal, four people, including three children and a woman, were killed after a landslide buried their house while they were sleeping in Nishi Khola village in Baglung district, Krishna Prasad Acharya, the district’s senior-most bureaucrat, said.
Ten Nepali workers were also missing after an avalanche buried the base camp of the 7,126m Himlung Himal in northern Manang district, hiking officials said. The workers had been setting up tents for foreign climbers, who were not present when the avalanche struck.
Nepali authorities warned of possible flash floods in 49 of the country’s 77 districts, with more than half facing high flood or flash-flood risks as water levels in major rivers and tributaries continued to rise.
Shanti Mahat, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said Rasuwa and Nuwakot, areas hit by last month’s deadly floods that killed more than 1,450 people and left thousands still missing, should remain “alert” but are not currently considered high-risk areas.
Flooding in the Rahuganga River damaged the structure and transmission-line towers of a 40MW hydropower project, Water Resources and Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said.
“A technical team had been mobilised to assess the damage and restore the project,” he said.
In India, the Central Water Commission said 30 river-monitoring stations across seven states are in a “severe situation”, with water levels between designated danger marks and previous highest flood levels.
Several major rivers, including the Ganga, Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati and Narmada, are above danger levels at monitoring stations.
Floods and landslides also disrupted telecommunications in parts of Nepal after damage to optical fibres and power supplies, Communications Minister Bikram Timilsinha said.
