People ‘jump from roof to roof’ as floods kill 148 in Nepal

Major floods and landslides in Nepal have killed at least148 people and injured more than 100 across the Himalayan nation, police have reported.

They say more than 50 people are still missing on Sunday after two days of intense rainfall, which has inundated the valley around the capital Kathmandu. About 3,600 people have been rescued.

Residents say they “jumped from one roof to another” to escape rising waters, which have flooded thousands of homes. Meanwhile, crews are still carrying out rescues on helicopters and inflatable rafts.

Despite rain being forecast to continue through to Tuesday, there are signs of some easing on Sunday.

Some residents were able to return to their mud-caked homes on Sunday, while others are still cut off with major roads between towns and villages still blocked.

But flash floods, along with landslides, have caused many deaths.

At least 35 bodies have been recovered from vehicles buried under landslide in Prithvi Highway, near Kathmandu, police officials say.

Most major motorways connecting Kathmandu with the rest of the country remain blocked in multiple places by landslides.

Five people, including a pregnant woman and a four-year-old girl, died when a house collapsed under a landslide in the city Bhaktapur, to the east of Kathmandu, state media reports.

Two bodies were removed from a bus buried by a landslide in Dhading, west of Kathmandu. Twelve people, including the driver, were said to be onboard.

Six football players were also killed by a landslide at a training centre operated by the All Nepal Football Association in Makwanpur, to the south-west of the capital.

Others have been swept up in the floodwaters. In one dramatic scene, four people were washed away by the Nakkhu River in the southern Kathmandu valley.

“For hours, they kept on pleading for help,” Jitendra Bhandari, an eyewitness, told the BBC. “We could do nothing.”

Hari Om Malla lost his truck after it was submerged by water in Kathmandu.

He told the BBC that water had “gushed” into the cabin as the rain intensified on Friday night.

“We jumped out, swam, and got away from it – but my purse, bag and mobile have been swept away by the river. I have nothing now. We stayed the whole night in the cold.”

Another person, Bishnu Maya Shretha, said the scale of flooding was more extreme this season.

“We had run away the last time, but nothing happened. But this time all the houses were flooded.

“As the water levels rose, we had to cut the roof and get out. We jumped from one roof to another and finally reached a concrete house.”

 

Source: BBC