LOGIN DASHBOARD

    Features

    The Wire

    1 MIN READ

    Death toll in South Asia monsoon flooding rises to 245

    Associated Press, August 15, 2017, Kathmandu

    Death toll in South Asia monsoon flooding rises to 245

      Share this article

    The death toll in flooding and landslides that devastated parts of northern India, southern Nepal and Bangladesh over the past few days has risen to 245, while millions of others have been displaced, officials said Tuesday.

    
            Cover photo: Flood affected villagers wait for relief material on a broken road washed away by floodwaters in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern state of Assam, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
    Cover photo: Flood affected villagers wait for relief material on a broken road washed away by floodwaters in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern state of Assam, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

    KATHMANDU — The death toll in flooding and landslides that devastated parts of northern India, southern Nepal and Bangladesh over the past few days has risen to 245, while millions of others have been displaced, officials said Tuesday. In Nepal, authorities scrambled to send relief supplies to flood-hit areas where incessant rain has flooded hundreds of villages, killing 110 people.

    Security forces helped rescue people marooned on rooftops, while helicopters were distributing food and drinking water packets in the worst-hit southern districts. With hundreds of thousands of people affected by the floods, the government was focusing on moving in relief supplies as soon as possible, said Ram Krishna Subedi, a home ministry spokesman. Nepal's home minister, Janardan Sharma, spent the morning at a relief distribution center at Kathmandu's airport to ensure that the aid was reaching all areas affected by the flooding.

    Nepal's government has been under criticism for not being able to reach people desperate for help. Across Nepal's southern border, flooding swamped 13 districts in the Indian state of Bihar. Officials said 41 people had been killed, many from drowning, or after being caught in collapsed houses or under toppled trees. Some 200,000 people were temporarily living in the more than 250 relief camps that the government has set up in school and government buildings. Indian soldiers in boats and helicopters helped distribute food packets, medicine and drinking water to people affected by the floods.

    Forty-six people were killed in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday when two buses were buried by a landslide in the Himalayan foothills. Another 21 have died in the remote northeastern state of Assam, where soldiers raced to rescue people marooned on rooftops. In neighboring Bangladesh, at least 18 major rivers were flowing at dangerously high levels, according to the state-run Flood Forecasting and Warning Center.

    Over the past two days, 27 people have died in the low-lying delta nation, while another 600,000 are marooned, Bangladesh's disaster management minister, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury, said. Around 368,000 people have taken refuge in more than 970 makeshift government shelters, he said. Deadly landslides and flooding are common across South Asia during the summer monsoon season that stretches from June to September.



    author bio photo

    Associated Press  No bio.



    Comments

    Get the best of

    the Record

    Previous Next

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    COVID19

    News

    4 min read

    Covid19 Roundup, 8 May: Cases reach 102 while all MPs have been cleared

    Record Nepal - May 8, 2020

    A daily summary of all Covid19 related developments that matter

    Features

    6 min read

    Death and devastation with the arrival of the monsoon

    Marissa Taylor - June 18, 2021

    Here’s what you need to know about the floods and landslides wreaking havoc in districts across the country.

    Features

    12 min read

    For the airport yet to come

    Sabin Ninglekhu - July 22, 2020

    For the ordinary residents of Nijgadh, the airport has already come—as the fear and uncertainty that now pervade the everyday, of being displaced and dispossessed

    COVID19

    News

    3 min read

    Covid19 Roundup, 11 April: Longer lockdown likely, better use for MP funds and a coronavirus helpline

    The Record - April 11, 2020

    A daily summary of Covid19 related developments that matter

    COVID19

    News

    4 min read

    Covid19 Roundup, 12 May: Largest spike in daily cases brings the confirmed total to 191

    The Record - May 12, 2020

    A daily summary of Covid19 related developments that matter

    Perspectives

    8 min read

    Four takeaways from the latest UN Climate Report for Nepal

    Shuvam Rizal - March 15, 2022

    The latest volume of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report focuses on climate change impacts on people and places, with urgent lessons takeaways for Nepal. 

    Features

    10 min read

    In Mahottari, reclaiming riverbeds for farmland

    Marissa Taylor - September 28, 2021

    Turning fertile riverbeds into leasehold farms have helped farmers increase incomes but it doesn’t safeguard them from the hazards of climate change.

    The Wire

    News

    4 min read

    Consider the yak

    Omair Ahmad - September 12, 2016

    Geopolitics, globalization, and climate change are affecting yak populations across the Himalayan region

    • About
    • Contributors
    • Jobs
    • Contact

    CONNECT WITH US

    © Copyright the Record | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy