At least 105 houses were inundated in Jhapa Rural Municipality after floods in Kankai River breached a section of the eastern embankment at Sadakbari on Monday afternoon. 

“At least 83 houses in Milanbasti in Ward No. 1 and at least 22 houses in Sadakbari in Ward No 2 have been inundated,” said Jay Narayan Sah, the chair of the rural municipality. “The affected families were taken to safer locations on Monday itself.”

“Some families returned home to Milanbasti on Tuesday morning after the water level decreased,” said Sah. “But the situation is not safe for most other families to return to their settlements yet.”

“The flooded river has breached a 300m long section of the embankment,” said Sah.

“The floodwaters had been eroding the embankment for the last four days,” said Jhatru Rajbanshi, one of the displaced victims from Sadakbari. “About 1,000 bighas of paddy fields were also inundated by the floodwaters.”

“We tried to prevent the floodwaters from entering the settlement right after it started eroding the embankment by building temporary embankments with sandbags but they couldn’t hold through the flood," said Ward No. 2 chair Netra Bahadur Khadka. “At least 55 houses in Sadakbari are at high risks of inundation.”

"Hundreds of houses in Milanbasti, Sadakbari, Salmara and Lasungunj will be inundated if the embankment faces more damage," said Sah.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.