At least 40 people were killed and thousands displaced as late rains continued to lash western Nepal for over 72 hours, spreading a flood-wrought disaster after a meager monsoon caused drought in the agro-based republic.
At least 40 people were killed and thousands displaced as late rains continued to lash western Nepal for over 72 hours, spreading a flood-wrought disaster after a meager monsoon caused drought in the agro-based republic.
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Landslides and raging rivers killed 40 people, including children, in Achham, Parbat and Dadeldhura districts while highways remained cut off and air and ferry services had to be discontinued.
Achham, one of the poorest districts in Nepal and the hardest-hit during the Maoist insurgency, suffered the highest deaths so far with 23 people dying due to house collapses and floods.
Landslides started in Parbat district early Wednesday, killing five people, four of whom were from the same family.
On Tuesday, 12 people had died in landslides in Dadeldhura district.
Two villages in Achham - Siddheswar and Vindhyavasini - were engulfed by landslides while over 150,000 people were in danger in Bardiya district where flood waters encircled 11 villages.
The flood ravages continued along southern Nepal parallel to the border with India.
The Rapti and Karnali rivers were in spate with the former destroying wide tracts of paddy, officials said.
Even the mountainous north was affected as the highways leading to them from the western districts remained inaccessible due to landslides.
The army and armed police force have been deployed for rescue operations but the remoteness of some of the villages as well as incessant rains have hampered rescue and relief operations.
The calamity comes as a fresh blow for the government of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal that remains deadlocked in a battle with former Maoist guerrillas.
The duel has led to the Maoists, now the biggest party in parliament, to block the house for nearly four months, demanding a debate on the cause that led to the collapse of their government in May and a new government under their stewardship.
The Maoists want the house to censure President Ram Baran Yadav, who stepped outside his constitutional role to reinstate the army chief sacked by the Maoists.
But the ruling parties have refused to admit the debate, creating an impasse that now threatens to derail the peace process and the promulgation of a new constitution scheduled for May.
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