KHATMANDU: Residents of Nepal’s flood-hit capital returned to their mud-smeared homes on Sunday to survey the wreckage of devastating floods that have killed at least 148 people across the Himalayan republic. Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common in South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity. Entire neighborhoods in Kathmandu were inundated over the weekend by flash floods in rivers flowing through the capital and extensive damage to highways connecting the city to the rest of Nepal. Kumar Tamang, who lives in a riverside slum, told AFP that he and his family had to flee after midnight on Saturday when the waters rushed into his shack. “We came back this morning and everything looks different,” the 40-year-old said. “We couldn’t even open the door of our house, it was covered in mud,” he added. “Yesterday we were afraid that the water would kill us, but today we have no water to clean. Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 148 people had been killed across the country and another 59 were still missing. Home Ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari told AFP that bulldozers were being used to clear several highways that had been blocked by debris and cut off Kathmandu from the rest of the country. “More than 3,000 people were saved,” he added. At least 36 dead were aboard three vehicles and were buried alive when the landslide poured onto a highway south of Kathmandu, Nepalese police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP. The valley in which the capital lies has recorded 240 millimeters of rainfall, the local meteorological office told The Kathmandu Post. The report said it was the highest rainfall recorded in Kathmandu since at least 1970. Chest-deep water The Bagmati River and its many tributaries, which cut through Kathmandu, burst their banks after midnight on Saturday, flooding nearby homes and vehicles. Residents waded through chest-deep water to reach higher ground. Bishnu Maya Shrestha, who lived in another flooded area of Kathmandu, said they had to cut the roofs of their houses to escape. “We jumped from one roof to another to safety and finally they came with boats to rescue us,” Shrestha told AFP. More than 3,000 security personnel were deployed using helicopters and speedboats to assist in the rescue efforts. Rescue teams used rafts to pull the survivors to safety. Domestic flights to and from Kathmandu resumed on Sunday morning after weather forced a complete halt and more than 150 flights were canceled since Friday evening. The summer monsoon brings 70–80 percent of the annual rainfall to South Asia. Monsoon rains from June to September bring widespread death and destruction in South Asia every year, but the number of deadly floods and landslides has increased in recent years. Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity. A landslide that hit a road in Chitwan district in July plunged two buses carrying 59 passengers into a river. Three people managed to escape alive, but authorities were only able to recover 20 bodies from the crash, with raging floodwaters hampering the search. More than 260 people have died in rain-related disasters in Nepal this year.
