Mahottari, July 23:

Floods triggered by incessant rains have inundated over two dozen villages in Mahottari and Bara districts.

At least a dozen villages in Mahottari district have been submerged in floodwaters from the Ratu and Wighi rivers. Jaleshwor, the district headquarters of Mahottari, has turned into an island of sorts. Communication links with rural areas around Jaleshwor have been severed. Government offices witnessed just a handful of visitors today.

The floods have inundated Jaleshwor, Bajarahi, Maliwara, Ramaul, Kharachowk, Gena Bathnaha, Dhawoli, Sano Dhawoli, Sari, Basopatti, Mahadevpatti, Matihani Suga, Simardahi and Parsapataili.

Floodwaters entered the Jaleshwor prison, rendering the jailbirds ill. Though the prison has the capacity to accommodate 135 prisoners, 204 prisoners have been lodged there, jailer Arjun Upadhyaya said.

According to the Mahottari branch of the Nepal Red Cross Society, inundation and soil erosion may displace around 100 families. Waterlogging in the Jaleshwor Bardibas, Jaleshwor Matihani and the Jaleshwor-Bhittamod road section has brought traffic to a halt.

Transaction at the customs office in Jaleshwor came to a halt as vehicular movement came to a standstill. The flooded Ratu river has triggered soil erosion at northern Gaushala, Kishasnagar and Ratuwa.

CDO Netra Prasad Sharma said a large number of security personnel has been mobilised to control the situation. According to our Bara correspondent, floods and rainwater have inundated hundreds of houses in a dozen VDCs of Bara district.

The flooded Pasaha river has submerged at least a hundred houses at Bara Basatpur-9, said a local Rakesh Pandey. Several houses have been inundated at Badaki Fulbariya, southern Jhitkaiya.

Head of the Bara office of the Nepal Red Cross Society Udaya Nepal said that members of the Red Cross have been given assignments to collect details of damages at Basatpur, Badaki Fulbariya and southern Jhitkaiya. The floodwaters have also caused Mahesh Bhagat’s thatched-roof house at Kalaiya-4 to collapse. Two houses collapsed at Ganjbhawanipur.

The Pasaha river has eroded the 27-ft-long road section of the East West Mahendra Highway at 13 Kilo. The floods in Lal Bakeya, Pasaha, Dudhaura, Thalahi, Banguri and Jamuni rivers have eroded acres of fertile land in the district, said a local Sonalal Shah.