Gorkha Chief District Officer Dharendra Kumar Mishra received word of a major flood at 4:35 in the morning, as communities along Nepal’s Budhi Gandaki river faced the consequences of a landslide upstream.
The landslide had blocked the river near the village of Chumchure, creating a dam. When it breached on Sunday, flash flooding swept through the area, destroying homes and other structures and forcing residents along the river to evacuate.
The flood hit Chumnubri Rural Municipality-6 in Gorkha. Nima Lama, the Rural Municipality Chair, said a landslide had also blocked the Chumke Khola in Chumnubri-6 before the flooding.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority evacuated villagers and told others to move to safer places, while urging them to remain alert until late Sunday. The Flood Forecasting Division also sent an SMS alert calling for caution.
At least five people have been reported missing. Some residents have been displaced because of the danger, and Sallery and Jagat Bazaar, in the lower riparian area, were identified as at risk.
About three dozen houses were swept away, while four bridges were damaged or destroyed. Floodwater also damaged a hydropower plant construction site and several power and communication towers along the riverside.
Nepal’s army rescued 49 people by Sunday afternoon, using helicopters and ground troops.
In Arughat, a riverside town on the highway linking Kathmandu with other parts of the country, social media posts indicated that the government warning prompted residents to leave. The town lay in the path of the flooding.
The office of Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah said on Monday that it had ended search and rescue operations for further victims.
The new flooding comes as Nepal continues to recover from a flood in August along the mountainous Nepal-China border that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands more missing.
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