9 die in Nepal floods

2010-08-28 13:27

Kathmandu - Nine people were killed and hundreds left homeless in Nepal as fresh monsoon rains took its toll on the Himalayan nation, media reports said on Saturday.

Two people drowned in the Lalbakaiya River in Rautahat district in central Nepal. Police rescued over 30 others who had been cut off on a cut off by the floods, the Kantipur daily reported.

In Sankhuwasabha in eastern Nepal, a man died when he was buried in landslide and in Jhapa district, two people were swept away by the swollen Deuniya River. The body of an elderly man, who had been missing for three days, was also discovered in the district.

A woman was killed by the flooded Bakraha River in Morang district. The river burst its banks and entered two nearby villages, displacing over 600 families.

According to the Republica daily, negligence by the Department of Water-Induced Disaster Prevention, which failed to conduct repairs of the river embankment, led to the disaster. Another 150 families were displaced by flooding in Udaypur district, also in eastern Nepal.

A woman drowned in an overflowing irrigation canal in Salyan district in western Nepal and a child was killed in Baitadi district when a house collapsed due to incessant rainfall. Three other members of the same family were injured in the incident.

Police and army personnel have been deployed to the flooded zones for rescue operations.

Hundreds die and thousands are left without shelter each year due to flash floods and landslides triggered by the monsoon, which lasts from June to September.

- SAPA