Monsoon's Furious Onset

With unstable, soft and fragile geological structures, Nepal’s hills and mountains are at high risk of flash floods and landslides owing to torrential monsoon rains. Monsoon is a regional atmospheric phenomenon that brings summer rainfall in Nepal. This year’s monsoon entered Nepal on June 14. But, in less than a week, the monsoon rains have become quite catastrophic for three hilly and mountain districts — Sankhuwasabha, Taplejung and Panchthar -- of the Koshi Province. The incessant rains have taken their toll on many lives of people and properties in those districts. As of Sunday evening, four persons have lost their life while more than two dozen others have gone missing there since Saturday night. Two persons were killed in Taplejung district while one each lost their lives in Panchthar and Sankhuwasabha districts. Three persons, who were injured in the calamity, have been undergoing treatment at a health facility in Chainpur. 

According to a news report published in this daily on Monday, 16 persons have gone missing after the flooded Hewakhola in Sankhuwasabha swept them away. Most of those who have got lost were labourers working with Super Hewakhola Hydropower Project, which is under construction at Chainpur Municipality-4 of the district. The disaster happened after the river that had remained blocked because of a landslide at Chainpur Municipality- 4 and Panchkhapan Municipality-9, burst, causing devastations to the lives of people. A search and rescue team has already been deployed at the disaster site to rescue and recover bodies of those who have gone missing. Similarly, nine persons have also gone missing in floods and landslides in nearby Taplejung and Panchthar districts. Three members of the same family are among those who have gone missing in the disaster in Taplejung. The rains also destroyed two bridges on the Mechi Highway, cutting off the road link to Taplejung district. Torrential rains are reported to have stopped rescue workers from reaching Sidingwa village where nearly two dozen houses are vulnerable to rain-induced disasters. 

According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the fresh disasters have caused damage to physical infrastructures like roads, bridges and hydropower plants worth Rs. 500 million in those three districts. Dozens of settlements located in all the nine local levels of Taplejung are exposed to floods and landslides. The Dobhan market of Meringden Rural Municipality-3 Khamlung has been at risk of disasters with the levels of water on the banks of the Tamor and Maiwakhola Rivers rising alarmingly. This is the second largest market in the district after the district headquarters Phungling. In Panchthar, five persons have disappeared in the floods. Road connectivity in three local levels has been disrupted after the collapse of a Bailey bridge in the Tamor Corridor. In view of this adverse situation, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA) has stated that preparations were under way to set up a Bailey bridge over the Hewa River along the Mechi Highway as the recent floods swept away a concrete bridge. 

Even amidst a harsh weather condition, security personnel have been mobilised in coordination with the local administration and local governments to search for the missing persons and rescue those at risk. But it has been a difficult job for the rescue teams to carry out their responsibility as the internal as well as external transport services have remained disrupted following the destruction of rural roads and motorable bridges there. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on Sunday expressed his deep sorrow over the loss of lives in the floods and landslides in those districts. In a message, the Prime Minister asked all the security agencies and other stakeholders to get engaged in search, rescue and relief distribution at the earliest possible.