170 dead in Nepal floods, landslides after rains

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KATHMANDU: Nepal has shut schools for three days after landslides and floods triggered by two days of heavy rain across the Himalayan nation killed 170 people, with dozens more missing, officials said on Sunday.

The floods brought traffic and normal activity to a standstill in the Kathmandu valley over the weekend, though domestic flights resumed in and out of Kathmandu on Sunday morning after cancellation of at least 150 departures.

Nepal’s home ministry said 170 people had been killed across the country, with another 42 still missing.

At least 35 of those killed were aboard three vehicles and were buried alive when earth from a landslide careened into a highway, south of Kathmandu.

TV footage showed police rescuers in knee-high rubber boots using picks and shovels to clear away mud and retrieve 16 bodies of passengers from two buses swept away by a massive landslide at a site on the key route into Kathmandu.

Some parts of the capital reported rain of up to 322.2mm (12.7 inches), pushing the level of its main Bagmati river up 2.2m (7ft) past the danger mark, experts said.

But there were some signs of respite on Sunday morning, with the rains easing in many places, said Govinda Jha, a weather forecaster. Residents started returning to their mud-caked homes in the capital to survey the wreckage of devastating floods.

However, authorities said students and their parents faced difficulties as university and school buildings damaged by the rains needed repair. “We have urged the concerned authorities to close sch­ools in the affected areas for three days,” said Lakshmi Bhattarai, a spokesperson for the education ministry.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2024