At least four persons died in separate landslide and flood incidents in Tehrathum and Saptari districts on Friday and Saturday. 

About 1,500 houses were inundated at various settlements in Saptari as flood waters entered settlements. 

In Tehrathum, three of a family died and as many were injured critically when a landslide swept away a house at Amden in Myanglung Municipality-5 on Friday night.

According to police, Kumari Limbu, 50, and her grandchildren Priti Limbu, 9, and Prim Limbu, 7, died in the landslide. Kumari’s two brothers Som Kumar Limbu, 40, and Tej Kumar Limbu, 35, and another granddaughter Pancha Kumari Limbu have sustained critical injuries. 

The injured have been referred to Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences as their treatment was not possible in the district. According to locals, water in an irrigation canal just above the victims’ house had been blocked which caused the landslide. 

In Saptari, an Armed Police Force (APF) cop was swept away by the flooded Khado river. Chief District Officer Krishna Bahadur Katuwal said APF head constable Suman Acharya, posted at Tilathi Belhi border outpost,  drowned in the rain-swollen stream.

Floodwaters in Mahuli, Khanda and other streams inundated houses in Trikaul, Tirahut, Rupani, Basabiti, Tilathi and Kanchanrup, among other places. According to SP Anurag Dwibedi, floods in the Mahuli stream damaged 15 houses in Tikaul, 70 in Tirahut and six in Rupani. Around 500 houses were waterlogged at Tilathi, Belhi, Sakarpura, Madha-wapur and Mayanakaredi. 

The victims have moved to safer places waiting for the water level to recede. 

The local administration has relief and mobilised security personnel. SP Dwibedi said around 500 victims were taken to safe places. Around 550 families in Trikaul and Maleth have been given foodstuff. The flooded Khado and Mahuli streams eroded embankments at Damuri Shivathan, Rayapur, Maleth, Topa among other places, leaving the nearby settlements at high risk of flood. 

Matepani monastery at risk

POKHARA: Matepani Gumba, a major tourist attraction in Pokhara, is at risk of landslide. A landslide near the monastery’s gate after heavy rains on Friday has put the historic monument, which was built some six decades ago, at risk. Locals complained that the area became vulnerable to landslides after the Division Road Office Pokhara failed to complete the road expansion work before monsoon.