Kathmandu, Nepal
AP
—
Landslides, a lighting strike and flooding triggered by severe rainfall killed a minimum of 22 individuals in Nepal and 12 others have been reported lacking on Sunday, officials stated.
Several villages in Nepal’s jap mountain district of Illam have been swept away by landslides on Sunday, killing a minimum of 18 individuals and leaving seven others lacking, Nepal police spokesman Binod Ghimire stated.
Six individuals in the identical household have been killed when a landslide crushed their residence whereas they slept, Illam’s assistant administrative officer Bholanath Guragai stated.
Rainfall was hampering efforts to achieve the villages and many roads have been swept away or blocked by the landslides. Guragai stated helicopters from the central authorities have been wanted for medical evacuations.
Three different individuals in a separate district have been killed as they have been struck by lighting and one particular person died in flooding in southern Nepal.
Authorities have rescued 114 individuals, Ghimire stated.
Nepal’s authorities issued a severe rainfall warning in the jap and central elements of the nation from Saturday to Monday, whereas shutting down main highways. All home flights have been grounded on Saturday by aviation authorities as a result of of heavy rainfall and poor visibility however have been reopened on Sunday.
The main highways connecting the capital, Kathmandu, with different areas have been closed by the authorities as some elements have been blocked by landslides and others have been shut as a precautionary measure.
The blockage of roads and transport got here as a whole lot of hundreds of individuals have been returning to Kathmandu after celebrating Dashain, the most important pageant in the Himalayan nation. Thursday was the primary day of the two-week pageant when individuals journey to their residence villages to be with their households.
Highways have been clogged with automobiles on Sunday, as the federal government assessed the state of affairs.
In Kathmandu, some areas close to the river have been flooded however no main injury or casualties have been reported.
The authorities had declared a nationwide vacation till Monday as a result of of the heavy rainfall.
Flooding and landslides (*22*) across the similar time killed 224 individuals and left 158 injured.
The weekend’s heavy rainfall arrived on the finish of Nepal’s monsoon season, which often begins in June and ends by mid-September.