Landslides triggered by incessant rains have damaged properties worth millions of rupees in three villages of Humla, a remote mountain district of Karnali Province.

According to local residents, floods and landslides swept away bridges and damaged houses and roads in wards 2, 3 and 8 of Sarkegad Rural Municipality on Friday night. It has been raining in the area for the past week.

Prakash Aidy, a local, said that the landslide damaged the house of Ram Bahadur Rokaya in Sarkegad-2, among other structures. Residents in Ripgaun, which has 230 households, are in a state of panic as multiple landslides have occurred in the area.

The destruction caused by the floods and landslides has not been assessed yet, said Chandra Singh Karki, the vice-chairman of Sarkegad Rural Municipality. Around half a dozen wooden bridges were swept away while paddy fields of nearly 100 farmers have been damaged, Karki said. Ripgaun, Radeu and Unapani settlements have been disconnected with other parts of the district as landslides blocked the foot trails and floods swept away bridges in the area.

“It has been continuously raining in the area and the floods in the local streams have kept on eroding the paddy fields,” Karki said. “The floods and landslides also damaged drinking water projects and irrigation canals.”

In Unapani, a landslide damaged the powerhouse of the Tatopani Micro Hydropower Project. Man Bahadur Thapa of the same village said that water spouts and wells have been buried while the paddy transplanted in 25-26 hectares of land has been swept away by the landslide.

Ripgaun is hardest hit by the monsoon mayhem. “Some houses are at high risk of landslides,” Thapa said. “A huge loss of life and property is likely to happen if the landslide-prone houses are not shifted to a safer location at the earliest.”

A rescue team deployed from the district headquarters is facing difficulty due to continuous rainfall and risks of landslides, police said.

Police Inspector Deepak Malla told the Post that security personnel were deployed from Simkot, the district headquarters, to the landslide-hit area this morning.

Bhim Prasad Dhakal, chief of Karnali police, said that 700 people residing in 210 houses in the area are at a high risk of landslides.

The Karnali government says preparation is on to send a helicopter to rescue the victims trapped in the landslides and floods.

Provincial Law Minister Krishna GC said that a team would leave for Sarkegad with relief materials soon after they get an update from the security team. The minister said he has instructed the security team to rescue and relocate the locals at risk.

The area affected by the floods and landslides is about 100 km away from Simkot.