Rajbiraj, August 12

Floods triggered by incessant rainfall in the past four days have inundated four dozen villages and the district headquarters Rajbiraj, in Saptari.

As many as 5,000 houses have been submerged in floodwaters, rendering 2,500 families displaced in the district. Of the displaced families, some are taking shelter at their relatives’ houses while others are living in the open.

Floodwaters have gushed into almost every household in 15 wards of Rajbiraj Municipality. More than 5,000 houses in Tilathi Koiladi, Sakarpura, Mainakaderi, Raghunathpur, Maleth, Bhediya, Chapena, Belhi, among other places, have submerged in floodwaters. The floods have directly affected 10,000 families in the district. The house of Ram Thakur in ward 5 and five other houses at Bhaluwahi in ward 2 of Rajbiraj Municipality have also been swept away by floods.

As per a preliminary estimation, a total of 17 houses have been washed away by floods in the rural areas of Saptari. As many as 55 houses have been inundated at Mithilatol of Rajbiraj Municipality-5 and more than 100 houses are at high risk of inundation in the neighbourhood, police said.

Similarly, 50 houses at Rajdevitol of Rajbiraj Municipality-2 have been submerged in floodwaters. Likewise 155 houses have been inundated at Kobashain. Some people swam to safety while others used boats to move to safe places. Those displaced in Rajbiraj Municipality are taking shelter at the local Rajdevi Primary School building.

Locals of Tilathi where 25 houses were inundated, have been displaced. They are taking refuge at a nearby school building. Over 500 houses are at high risk of inundation at Bhediya, Sakarpur, Maleth and Mainakaderi.

Over 400 houses were inundated at Bhediya, Deuri and Bharuwa after floods breached embankments and the floodwaters gushed into human settlements . The flooding has also damaged a local Nepal Electricity Authority sub-station, cutting off power supply in the surrounding areas from early morning.

Floods continue to breach embankments in many places. Heavy rains and floods have damaged hundreds of bigahas of land. Flood victims complained that no government agency had visited to take stock of the situation. SP Mukesh Kumar Singh, however, said they had been carrying out relief and rescue work.

Saptari Chief District Officer Krishna Bahadur Katuwal said Nepal Police, Nepali Army and Armed Police Force personnel had been mobilised in the flood-hit areas. “Persistent rainfall has made our rescue and relief works very difficult”, Katuwal said.