Tragedy abroad: 170 killed as torrential rains trigger deadly floods and landslides

• Devastating floods in Nepal have claimed at least 170 lives, with entire neighborhoods in Kathmandu submerged and highways severely damaged
• Residents are returning to mud-caked homes, struggling to cope with the aftermath of record-breaking monsoon rains
• Rescue operations are underway, with over 3,000 people saved, but many remain missing as the nation grapples with the increasing severity of climate-induced disasters

Residents of Nepal’s flood-hit capital returned to their mud-caked homes on Sunday to survey the wreckage of devastating floods that have killed at least 170 people across the Himalayan republic.

Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.

Floods: 170 dead, thousands rescued. Photo credit: Peterv via Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

Entire neighbourhoods in Kathmandu were inundated over the weekend with flash floods reported in rivers coursing through the capital and extensive damage to highways connecting the city with the rest of Nepal.

170 killed as torrential rains trigger deadly floods

Kumar Tamang, who lives in a slum area by a riverbank, told AFP he and his family had to flee after midnight on Saturday as waters rushed into his shack.

“This morning we returned and everything looks different,” the 40-year-old said. “We couldn’t even open the doors to our house, it was jammed with mud,” he added. “Yesterday we were afraid that the water would kill us, but today we have no water to clean.”

Nepal’s Home Ministry said 170 people had been killed across the country with another 42 still missing.

Ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari told AFP that bulldozers were being used to clear several highways that had been blocked by debris, cutting Kathmandu off from the rest of the country. “More than 3,000 people have been rescued,” he added.

At least 35 of those killed were aboard three vehicles and were buried alive when earth from a landslide careened into a highway south of Kathmandu, Nepal Police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP.

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said preliminary data from stations in 14 districts measured record-breaking rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning. A station at the Kathmandu airport recorded about 240 millimetres (9.4 inches) of rain, highest since 2002, it said.

Tragedy as 29 killed in flooding

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the Kebbi state government led by Nasir Idris said that 29 people, 321,000 houses, and 858,000 farmlands have been lost to floodwaters in 16 of the 21 local government areas in the state.

Ahmed highlighted that before NiMET predicted Kebbi would be worst hit.

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Source: Legit.ng