Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have wreaked havoc in several places of Sudurpaschim and Lumbini provinces, killing at least 21 people as of Saturday evening, police said. Two people were missing while a few others sustained injuries.

Achham, a hill district of Sudurpaschim, has been hit the hardest. According to the District Police Office in Achham, 21 people died and two others went missing in four separate landslides in the district on Friday night. As many as 12 people perished in landslides in Kamalbazaar Municipality alone.

Dipesh Rijal, acting chief district officer of Achham, said seven members of a family died and seven others were injured when a landslide struck a settlement at Hattibanjha in Kamalbazaar-6.

Meanwhile, five people died and one was injured at Dungachalna in Kamalbazaar-8. According to Rijal, the rescuers recovered eight bodies in a landslide at Kandachaur village in Turmakhad Rural Municipality-5. One person is still missing.

Ramesh Shahi, a resident of Turmakhad-5, said the landslide struck at around 3:30 am on Saturday. “The landslide swept away two houses. Eight bodies were recovered while one is still missing,” Shahi said.

In Dhakari Rural Municipality-6, one person died and another went missing. Five villagers sustained injuries in the incident, police said.

Personnel from Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have been deployed for rescue efforts. Three injured in Dhakari-6 were flown to Surkhet on a helicopter on Saturday afternoon.

“My father, a sister-in-law and a nephew sustained serious injuries in the landslide. They were airlifted to Surkhet. Another nephew, aged one-and-a-half years, was buried to death,” said Nirmal Budha, of Dhakari. He said the sludge swept away his house and an animal shed.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in Kathmandu sent a helicopter to rescue injured people at the request of the district administration office, Achham. “On Saturday, we mainly focused on rescuing the victims, searching for the missing and treating the injured people,” Rijal, the acting CDO, said.

“We asked the local units to provide immediate relief to the affected people. The district administration will also be involved in distributing relief from Sunday.”

According to Rijal, the district natural disaster committee has supplied food to the local units for distribution to the displaced people.

Rescue and relief works have been affected as it has been raining in the region for the past three days. Disruption in road transport and electricity supply in the rural areas has added to the difficulty in rescue and relief works, Rijal said. Many settlements in Achham have no telephone connection.

In Kailali, floodwaters have inundated around 2,000 houses. According to Shibaraj Joshi, information officer at the district administration office, around 400 houses in Joshipur, 180 houses in Kairari, 175 houses in Tikapur, 150 houses in Bhajani, 150 houses in Lamki Chuha and 15 houses in Dhangadhi have been waterlogged.

According to local residents, floodwater started entering the settlements from Saturday morning. “We struggled to save our lives. We left the village soon after the rain-swollen Kada river entered the settlement. We are now taking shelter on the Bhajani-Bahuniya road,” said Krishna Chaudhary of Thapapur in Bhajani over telephone.

According to Kewal Chaudhary, the mayor of Bhajani, almost all the houses in nine wards have been waterlogged.

“We are using boats and tyre tubes to rescue the victims,” he said. “We were informed that some 10-15 people climbed trees and stayed there in the Lalbojhi area. Efforts are underway to rescue them.”

According to Chaudhary, the displaced people are taking shelter in their neighbour’s houses, local school buildings and the roads.

Chief District Officer Kiran Thapa said it is mostly the settlements near the rivers and streams in the district’s south-eastern area that have been inundated. Personnel from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, along with members of Nepal Red Cross Society, have been mobilised in the affected areas for rescue and relief, Thapa said.

In Kanchanpur, around 400 families have been displaced as rain-swollen rivers in Laljhadi, Krishnapur, Shuklaphanta and Punarbas areas began to deluge the settlements.

The Mahakali, Banahara, Doda, and Mohana rivers have been flooded due to incessant rains in the catchment areas for the past three days. According to the District Police Office, Kanchanpur, water flow in the Mahakali river was measured at 130,000 cusec on Saturday afternoon.

In Bardiya, nearly 700 houses were waterlogged in Rajapur and Thakurbaba municipalities due to continued rainfall.

According to Chief District Officer Bandhu Prasad Bastola, Rajapur was greatly affected due to the inundation. As many as 659 families have been affected in wards 1 to 8 of Rajapur Municipality. “The affected people have been shifted to safer places,” Bastola said.

The flooded Karnali river started to erode the embankment at Sanakatighat area of Geruwa Rural Municipality-3. Security personnel have been mobilised to build a temporary embankment.

Water levels in the Babai, Karnali and other rivers and rivulets in Bardiya have increased as it rained continuously in the area for three days. The district administration has alerted people living near the rivers against possible flooding.

(Bhawani Bhatta in Kanchanpur, Mohan Budhaair in Kailali, Manoj Badu in Darchula and Kamal Panthi in Bardiya contributed reporting.)