Floods and landslides caused by persistent heavy rain and storms have killed at least 70 people in India and Nepal. Fifty-six people died in Uttar Pradesh, India, and 14 in Nepal, where another 11 people are missing.
Nepalese authorities said Sunday, Sept. 27, that rapidly rising rivers could trigger further flash floods in several parts of the country.
Uttar Pradesh received 66.5 millimeters of rain from Sept. 25 through the morning of Sept. 27, compared with the normal 7.6 millimeters for the period.
State Relief Commissioner Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod said rescue operations were underway in flooded areas and relief was being provided. Officials were also instructed to assess crop damage and compensate affected farmers.
The floods and landslides killed 56 people, injured 46 and damaged more than 1 thousand homes in the state.
Nepalese authorities warned that 49 of the country’s 77 districts face a risk of flash floods. More than half are at risk of major flooding or flash floods as water levels rise in main rivers and tributaries.
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority spokesperson Shanti Mahat said Rasua and Nuwakot, the areas worst hit by devastating floods last month, had been told to remain alert. More than 1 thousand 450 people died in those floods and many remain missing, according to the report.
Mahat said the two areas were not currently considered the most at risk.
Flooding has completely cut power in Nepal’s Manang, Mustang, Myagdi and Baglung districts. Authorities are working to restore service. Rising water in the Rahuganga River damaged infrastructure at a 40-megawatt hydropower project and a power transmission tower.
Telecommunications have also been disrupted in parts of Nepal because floods and landslides damaged optical fiber and electricity supplies, Communications Minister Bikram Timilsina said.
In a separate incident, 10 local workers are missing after an avalanche buried the base camp of the 7 thousand 126-meter Himlung Himal mountain in northern Manang district. The workers had been setting up tents for foreign climbers.
Officials said no foreign climbers were at the site when the avalanche struck.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report