National
Floods, landslides claim nine lives over past 24 hours
The disasters triggered by heavy rains have claimed lives and properties in Gulmi, Baglung and Syangja, among other districts.Gaganshila Khadka & Prakash Baral
At least nine people, including five members of a family, died in separate incidents of monsoon-induced disasters in various parts of the country within the past 24 hours.
The landslides and floods triggered by heavy rains have claimed lives and properties in Gulmi, Baglung and Syangja, among other districts.
Several roads, mainly the rural ones, were blocked while the floods and landslides damaged crops planted in ropanis of land.
In Gulmi, five family members, including two children, were killed on Friday night in a landslide triggered by incessant rains at Arje of Malika Rural Municipality-6.
According to Superintendent of Police Rajan Bhujel, the landslide buried the house of Bhesh Bahadur Kami of Malika Rural Municipality-6. Fifty-five-year-old Bhesh Bahadur Kami, his 48-year-old wife Suntali, 26-year-old daughter-in-law Sita and two grandchildren—8-year-old Sapana and 8-month-old Bipana—lost their lives in the disaster.
“We didn’t know when the incident happened. I saw the disaster only in the morning and informed the police,” said Bhesh Bahadur’s elder brother Hira Bahadur. The two-storey house was washed away by the landslide caused by incessant rain.
Bhujel said that security personnel were deployed from Ishma Police Station and District Police Office Gulmi immediately after receiving information about the landslide.
Bhesh Bahadur had been displaced by a landslide some two decades ago as well. “A landslide had damaged his house. He built a new house after the ward office managed land for him,” said Buddhi Bhandari, a local teacher. “The landslide swept his new house as well and killed Bhesh Bahadur and other family members.”
Bhesh Bahadur and Suntali have three sons, who are currently in India for work.
In Baglung, two people died in a landslide triggered by heavy rain on Saturday morning.
According to police, 55-year-old Prem Bahadur BK and his wife, 50-year-old Basanti, of Galkot Municipality-8, died after the mudslide swept away their home. The incident happened at around 3am, said police.
According to Loknath Kandel, a ward member of the local unit, the bodies were retrieved from the debris. Their two children were injured and are receiving treatment at Galkot Municipality Hospital. The incident site is around 60 km west from Baglung district headquarters.
In Syangja, a 32-year-old woman and her daughter, aged 3, were buried to death in Phedikhola Rural Municipality-5 on Friday night. According to the District Police Office, Durga GT and her daughter Nikisa died in the incident.
The landslide buried Durga’s house while they were asleep. There were only the mother and daughter when the incident occurred. Durga’s son was at his relative’s house that night.
Meanwhile, transportation has been disrupted in several road stretches across the nation. Vehicular movement came to a halt along the Baglung section of Kaligandaki corridor after a huge rock fell on the road near Jaiminidham in Jaimini Municipality-1.
According to Harihar Sharma, mayor of Jaimini Municipality, landslides blocked the corridor road in more than a dozen places in Baglung. “Around 200 metres of rural road in Lamabagar area of Jaimini-5 has been blocked due to a massive landslide,” Sharma said. “The floods and landslides also damaged a Bailey bridge across the Theulekhola.” The Theulekhola swept a house belonging to Laxmi Shrestha.
It has been raining heavily in the area since Friday afternoon, triggering floods and landslides in various places in Baglung.
Multiple landslides obstructed Kaligandaki corridor at Baralba, Binamare and Arjeba of Jaimini and Dablyang of Baglung Municipality. “Efforts are on to clear the falling rock near Jaiminidham by using a breaker,” said Bishal Ghimire, an engineer of Kalika Construction Company which was contracted to upgrade the Kaligandaki corridor in the area.
Similarly, Galeshwar-Jomsom road stretch was disrupted for a few hours after a landslide at Baiseri in Myagdi district blocked the road on Saturday morning. According to Rajan Rayamajhi, information officer at the District Police Office in Myagdi, transportation resumed along Galeshwor-Jomsom road after clearing the landslide debris. Another landslide in Ghumaunebhir also disrupted transportation along Beni-Darbang road.
Meanwhile, an elderly man who sustained serious injuries in a landslide at Sirijanga Rural Municipality-6 of Taplejung district was medevaced to Biratnagar for treatment. According to Chief District Officer Rabindra Acharya, Padam Bahadur Limbu, 63, was airlifted to Biratnagar-based Nobel Hospital for treatment on Saturday.
Limbu was swept away by a landslide while he was returning home on Friday. The incident happened as he returned home after receiving relief materials from the ward office. His house was partially damaged by a landslide a few days ago.
According to the district natural disaster management committee in Taplejung, five people were killed while 25 houses were completely destroyed by floods and landslides in the district over the past few days.