KATHMANDU, AUGUST 29

Ninety-four people have lost their lives and 44 others are still missing after the monsoon started, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority confirmed.

NDRRMA Spokesperson Bishwo Prakash Aryal said that almost 6,000 people were shifted to safer places after monsoon-induced disasters struck this year.

Nearly 800 houses were completely damaged while 25 hydropower projects, 29 motorable bridges and 29 suspension bridges were damaged due to flooding, landslides and inundation caused by heavy rainfall in various districts of the country.

For this monsoon season, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology had forecast more rain than the average annual precipitation.

Unlike in the past, heavy rain fell in the districts of central Tarai this year. Moreover, torrential rainfall has been occurring across the country for the past three days, inundating thousands of houses in the districts of Lumbini Province and other provinces. So far, around 4,000 houses have been inundated in the past three days, according to police reports.

Likewise, nine persons lost their lives while six others went missing in the recent incidents of flooding, landslide and inundation, NDRRMA Spokesperson Aryal stated.

Meanwhile, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has forecast that rainfall is likely until tomorrow and the weather will improve from Tuesday.

Meteorologist Samir Shrestha said the districts of Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini provinces witnessed rainfall today, while the western part of the country is expected to see heavy rain in the night.

In the past 24 hours, Kapilvastu recorded maximum rainfall of 182 mm while Chitwan, Palpa and Nawalparasi also received heavy rainfall.

Meanwhile, the authorities today organised a coordination meeting with the representatives of development partners to mitigate losses that have occurred due to rain-induced disasters.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 30 2021, of The Himalayan Times.