KATHMANDU: Floods triggered by torrential rains in Nepal on Tuesday (Jul 8) tore down a Himalayan mountain valley, sweeping away 18 people and destroying a key border bridge with China, a government official said.
One person has been confirmed dead and 17 others are listed as missing in the floods on the Bhotekoshi River, said Arjun Paudel, chief district officer of Rasuwa district.
The flooding destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, which is 120km north of the capital, Kathmandu, in the early hours of Tuesday.
It also swept away several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China were also parked at the border point.
Eleven Nepalis and six Chinese people are among the missing, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said.
Police said 95 rescuers were already in the area and more are expected to join in rescue efforts. An army helicopter was used to lift people stranded by the flooding
Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is making them worse.
The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a “distress signal” of what is to come as climate change makes the planet’s water cycle ever more unpredictable.
The Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) warned in June that communities face heightened disaster risks this monsoon season.
“Rising temperatures and more extreme rain raise the risk of water-induced disasters such as floods, landslides, and debris flows,” ICIMOD said.
