More than 200 people were killed in Nepal over the weekend in what experts described as some of the worst flash flooding to have hit the capital, Kathmandu, and the surrounding valleys.
Swathes of Kathmandu were left underwater after the heaviest monsoon rains in two decades fell on Friday and Saturday, washing away entire neighbourhoods, bridges and roads. The heavy rains caused the Bagwati River, which runs through the city, to swell more than 2 metres higher than deemed safe.
Officials reported that by Monday afternoon, 204 bodies had been recovered from the disaster and at least 30 more were still stranded or missing, while hundreds more were injured. Dozens who died had been travelling on buses that were washed away when the highways were engulfed by surging flood waters.
Nepal’s army said more than 4,000 people had been rescued using helicopters, motorboats and rafts. Search teams continued working to dig people buried in deep mud and rubble, while rescue teams also used ziplines to reach those who were stranded.
The mountain city of Pokhara, which is popular with tourists, was also hit by heavy flooding.
In the aftermath, thousands were displaced and hundreds were left without access to power and drinking water. The damage to the roads was so extensive that all main routes out of Kathmandu remained blocked and schools in the capital were closed for the next three days.
Officials and experts attributed the disaster to the climate crisis, which is causing increasingly intensive and erratic downpours and deadly flooding in south Asian countries such as Nepal. While the monsoon rains are drawing to a close, the onslaught over the weekend was caused by unusual monsoon weather patterns.
More than 300 people have died in Nepal this year from rain-related incidents, and recent studies have shown that the incidence of heavy flooding is likely to increase in the Himalayan country in the next five years as it is disproportionately affected by the changing climate.
Arun Bhakta Shrestha, an environmental risks expert at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), said he had “never before seen flooding on this scale in Kathmandu”.
ICIMOD said the scale of the disaster had been worsened by unplanned urban encroachment on flood plains and unauthorised construction without proper drainage along the banks of the Bagmati River. It called for the restoration of wetlands in areas vulnerable to flooding.