The Madan Bhandari Highway has been blocked since Sunday morning due to a landslide near a bridge over Mauwasi river in Udayapurgadhi Rural Municipality-5 of Udayapur district.

Superintendent of Police Gyanendra Phuyal said although an effort to open the highway after clearing the debris was made, it failed due to continuous downpours.

Police said it will take hours for the traffic to resume along the highway as the mudslide has buried some 100 metres of the road.

Long-route vehicles travelling from west to east have been diverted to another route from Katari, while vehicles travelling from the opposite direction have been diverted from Gaighat, according to Gaighat district traffic police office.

As a backhoe is stationed at the landslide-hit area, the work for clearing the landslide will begin as soon as the rain stops, police said.

The landslide-hit area is located some 22 km east of Katari and about 30 km west of the district headquarters.