Nepal closes schools as death toll from torrential rains rises to 129 By Reuters
Written by Gopal Sharma
Kathmandu – Nepal has closed schools for three days after landslides and floods caused by two days of heavy rain in the Himalayan province left 129 people dead and 62 missing, officials said on Sunday.
The floods brought traffic and normal activity to a standstill in the Kathmandu Valley, where 37 deaths were recorded in the area home to 4 million people and the capital.
Authorities said students and parents faced difficulties as university and school buildings damaged by the rain needed to be repaired.
“We have appealed to the relevant authorities to close schools in the affected areas for three days,” Lakshmi Bhattarai, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education, told Reuters.
Some parts of the capital reported as much as 322.2 mm (12.7 inches) of rain, pushing the level of its main Bagmati river 2.2 meters (7 ft) above the danger mark, experts said.
But there were signs of respite on Sunday morning, as the rains eased in many places, said Govinda Jha, a meteorologist in the capital.
“It is possible that there will be isolated showers, but there is little chance of heavy rains,” he said.
Television footage showed police rescuers wearing knee-high rubber boots using picks and shovels to clear the mud and remove 16 bodies of passengers from two buses that were swept away by landslides on the main road to Kathmandu.
Weather officials in the capital blamed the storms on a low-pressure system in the Bay of Bengal that extended into parts of neighboring India near Nepal.
Haphazard development increases the risk of climate change in Nepal, say climate scientists at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
“I have never seen floods like this in Kathmandu,” said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, the center's environmental risk officer.
In a statement, it urged the government and urban planners to “urgently” strengthen investment, and infrastructure systems, such as underground rainwater and sewage systems, both “grey”, or the improved type, and “green”, or the nature-based type.
The impact of the rains was exacerbated by water scarcity due to unplanned settlement and urbanization efforts, construction in flood prone areas, lack of water storage facilities, and encroachment of the Bagmati River, it added.
The level in the Koshi River in southeastern Nepal has started to drop, however, said Ram Chandra Tiwari, the district's chief executive.
The river, which brings deadly floods to India's eastern state of Bihar almost every year, has been breaching the danger mark at nearly three times the normal rate, he said.
