At least 14 have been reported killed nationwide in South Asia due to flash floods and landslides caused by ongoing heavy rains, with authorities in Nepal confirming the search for nine missing individuals.
“Our teams are actively engaged in affected areas, working to locate the missing and evacuate those affected,” stated police spokesperson Dan Bahadur Karki in an interview with DPA on Sunday.
Nepal, situated in South Asia, shares borders with India and China. It spans 147,181 square kilometers and is home to around 30 million people. Kathmandu serves as the capital and largest metropolitan city of the country.
The incessant rainfall has also led to significant flooding in neighboring India and downstream Bangladesh, causing widespread devastation and impacting millions of people.
Experts attribute the worsening situation to climate change and increased infrastructure development, exacerbating the region’s vulnerability to natural disasters.
The reported deaths occurred across multiple locations, with nine people currently missing.
Low-lying districts bordering India have particularly witnessed inundation, while parts of Nepal have been under heavy rainfall since Thursday, prompting warnings of potential flash floods in several rivers.
Meanwhile, in India’s northeastern state of Assam, floods have claimed six lives in the past 24 hours, according to Assam’s Disaster Management Authority.
Monsoon season, spanning from June to September, often brings fatal floods and landslides in the region.
In June alone, Nepal recorded 14 fatalities from severe storms triggering landslides, lightning strikes, and flooding, bringing the total death toll from recent heavy rains to 58.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has reported at least 50 deaths since June due to extreme weather events, underscoring the country’s susceptibility to such disasters due to its topography and extensive network of river systems.
This vulnerability is expected to be compounded by climate change, with global projections indicating a potential 40% increase in annual disaster occurrences by 2030, as noted by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
