Monsoon rains have caused widespread havoc in several hill districts in recent days, with floods and landslides claiming two lives in Jajarkot and Panchthar. In Lamjung, a landslide disrupted traffic along the Besishahar-Dumre road section for around seven hours.

A man died after being swept away by a flooded stream in ward 1 of Kushe Rural Municipality of Jajarkot, a hill district of Karnali Province, on Saturday night.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Purushottam Prasad Pandey, who is also the chief at District Police Office, 38-year-old Indra Bahadur Rokaya from ward 9 of Kushe Rural Municipality died after a flash flood in the Chaiya stream swept him away. The incident occurred at around 11pm while the victim and six of his friends were fishing in the stream near Tarechaur area.

The security personnel rescued six people. Three of them returned after receiving minor treatment at a local health institution while three others were taken to Nepalgunj for further treatment, said police.

In Panchthar, as many as 96 families have been displaced from wards 2 and 3 of Yangbarak Rural Municipality over the past week. The victims had no alternative to fleeing their homes after the settlements were at high risk of landslides.

As per the record available at the District Police Office in Panchthar, a total of 54 families in ward 2 and 42 families in ward 3 have been displaced. The displaced families have been taking shelter in community buildings and the homes of relatives or neighbours.

According to Bimal Rai, chairman of ward 3 of Yangbarak, multiple landslides erupted in Samakhu, Chothro and Phaklung settlement in the ward. He said several houses in the Phalaincha area in ward 2 and Chyangthapu in ward 1 are also at high risk of landslides.

The District Administration Office says that it started assessing damage caused by monsoon rains in the district over the past few days. “We distributed immediate relief to 49 displaced families. We are collecting data in the disasters-hit areas in coordination with the local units. Other displaced families will also get the relief soon,” said Chief District Officer Bishnu Prasad Koirala.

Meanwhile, transportation along the Chyangthapu-Oyam road section has been disrupted after the rain-swollen Oyam stream and Phalam stream swept away two motorable bridges in the area.

On Saturday, an Indian national working at the under construction Ingwa Hydropower Project in ward 3 of Yangbarak died after he fell into the flooded Indrawati stream that flows along the border of Panchthar and Taplejung districts. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Hemanta Bahadur Bhandari, Baikuntha Bihari, aged around 40 years, accidently fell into the stream and went missing. His body was recovered a few kilometres downstream.

In Sankhuwasabha, 24 families at Sagsewa in ward 6 of Makalu Rural Municipality have been displaced due to high risk of landslides in their settlement. According to Chief District Officer Dhruba Bahadur Khadka, the floods and landslide at the Guhe stream posed significant risk to the area. The displaced are taking shelter in their relatives’ houses.

Similarly in Gandaki Province, transportation along the Besishahar-Dumre road section was disrupted for about seven hours after a landslide blocked the road at ward 1 of Besishahar Municipality in Lamjung district on Sunday. According to the District Police Office in Lamjung, the landslide triggered by incessant rains occurred at around 6am.

Scores of vehicles to and from Besishahar were stranded for hours due to the transportation disruption. One-way traffic resumed after around seven hours.

According to Pradeep Adhikari, a senior sub-inspector at the District Traffic Police Office in Lamjung, debris from the Andheri and Gairi streams also disrupted transportation in Udipur area.

With inputs from our local correspondents