Nepal Urges Villagers to Evacuate After Landslide-Triggered Flash Flood Sweeps Through Gorkha
A landslide that blocked the Budhi Gandaki River unleashed a flash flood through Nepal's Gorkha district on Sunday, leaving five people missing and forcing evacuations along the river downstream.
Nepali authorities on Sunday urged villagers living along the Budhi Gandaki River to move to safer ground after a landslide-triggered flash flood swept through the country’s central Gorkha district, washing away houses and bridges and leaving five people out of contact.
The landslide in Chumnubri village, about 100 kilometers west of Kathmandu, blocked the river and sent debris-laden water surging downstream, according to Reuters. Two women and three men were unaccounted for, the national disaster authority said, while the army reported rescuing 49 people, including one foreign national.
Prime Minister Balen Shah said an army contingent had been deployed by air and land for search-and-rescue operations, and helicopters were mobilized to support evacuation in the flood-affected region. “We have asked villagers living along the river banks downstream to evacuate and remain safe,” said Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, the Gorkha district’s chief district officer.
Houses, bridges and a hydropower camp washed away
The flood swept away about a dozen houses and two suspension bridges, damaged a hydroelectric project camp and carried construction equipment away, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said. The rising, muddy river also washed out a highway bridge connecting Gorkha with the neighboring Dhading district, authority chief Dharam Raj Uprety said.
National disaster officials issued flood alerts for residents along the river in the Gorkha, Tanahun, Chitwan, East Nawalparasi and West Nawalparasi districts. The exact trigger of the sudden surge remained under investigation; residents suspect a tributary stream was blocked by debris and suddenly released, according to The Hindu BusinessLine.
Second disaster in two months
The flood struck barely two months after a catastrophic glacier-collapse flood near Nepal’s border with China in August killed more than 1,400 people, with thousands still missing, according to Reuters. Officials had deployed a joint rapid-response team from Kathmandu to the Gorkha area on Sunday as the river level continued to rise and fall.
Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and the New York Post.
