Nepal flood victims return back home as water continues to recede

Janakpur [Nepal], October 7 (ANI): Vehicular movements are back on track with business slowly returning to normal in the southern plains of Nepal as floodwaters continue to recede after days of mayhem caused by the heavy downpour last weekend.

People in the southern floodplains of Nepal are now replacing damaged items as they return home.

"The rainfall which continuously battered the nation for two days resulted in extensive damage and loss of property. Road connectivity in several areas has been severely damaged, houses were inundated, damaging items inside, but now the condition is slowly returning to normalcy with the water level receding," Brahmdev Yadav, a resident of Janakpur, told ANI.

The late monsoon rains wreaked havoc across Nepal, mainly in Bagmati, Madhesh, and Koshi provinces. The nationwide death toll caused by water-induced disasters stood at 61 till Tuesday evening.

The Himalayan nation started witnessing heavy downpours from October 3, and data from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) shows that some parts of Nepal experienced intense rainfall.

While the overall rainfall was slightly lower than last year, the destruction has still been severe because of "ultra-localised" heavy rains.

The central-eastern Terai plains and eastern hills bore the brunt of the storm, with weather stations in Rautahat and Ilam recording more than 330 mm and 300 mm of rain, respectively, on Saturday and Sunday.

Rainfall is normally considered extremely heavy if it exceeds 150 mm in 24 hours. Some districts received slightly more than 145 mm of rain on Sunday compared with roughly 240 mm in late September last year, when Kathmandu Valley experienced its heaviest deluge since 2002.

Some parts of Kathmandu recorded as much as 322.2 mm of rain last year, when the floods killed more than 200 people.

"All the settlements have been damaged. People struggled to save their children and arrange food for survival. No word can suffice the ordeal that people are facing now. People are struggling really hard. Life has been severely hampered, sections of roads have been swept away, bridges washed out, and houses collapsed. People don't have any idea about where to start and what to do next," Ram Kailash Thakur, another resident of Janakpur, told ANI.

Nepal this year had braced for above-average monsoon rainfall, but the pattern has now changed.

The Himalayan nation usually hosts the monsoon from June to the end of September, but it has been reactivated, resulting in downpours during the withdrawal period.

As the Himalayan nation had prepared for above-average rainfall, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) predicted that around two million (1,997,731) people from 457,145 households could be affected by monsoon-related disasters.

According to the projection, the districts of Lumbini province will be affected the most during the monsoon, with 523,656 people from 119,830 households expected to be impacted.

This is followed by Bagmati with 327,376 people from 74,914 households, Gandaki with 287,107 people from 65,699 households, Koshi with 275,867 people from 63,127 households, Madhesh with 228,687 people from 52,331 households, Sudurpaschim with 227,730 people from 52,112 households, and Karnali province with 127,308 people from 29,132 households. (ANI)

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