Monsoon-induced calamities continue to take lives and displace entire settlements in many districts of provinces 1, 2, Bagmati and Gandaki. At least seven people died and two others have gone missing in landslides and floods across the country in the past 24 hours.

According to the District Police Office in Dhading, three members of a family died in a landslide at Guljung in Tripurasundari Rural Municipality on Monday night.

“A couple and their two-year-old daughter died when a landslide buried their house. Security personnel have been deployed in the area for rescue work and to move other landslide-prone households to a safe location,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Rupak Khadka.

The same night, an elderly couple was killed in a landslide in Bulingtar of Nawalparasi (East), according to police.

In Ramechhap, five families have been displaced due to a landslide that occurred at Bamti on Tuesday. Two houses were swept away by the landslide and three others are at high risk.

In Darchula, two individuals were buried to death in a landslide in Ward No. 8 of Malikarjun Rural Municipality on Tuesday morning, according to the District Police Office in Darchula. Three others were injured in the incident, police said.

In Province 2, two people have gone missing after being swept away by flooded streams in Mahottari and Rautahat districts. According to the provincial police office in Janakpur, floods and inundation have displaced 219 families and damaged 38 houses in Saptari, Sarlahi and Rautahat districts in the past few days.

In Morang district of Province 1, as many as six settlements are at high risk of floods as the rain-swollen Bakraha stream has been eroding its embankment.

DSP Lokdarshan Thapa said, “Settlements in Sunbarshi, Ratuwamai, Patharishanishchare and Urlabari are at risk of floods.”

The local administration shifted four landless families from Chaita to a safer location on Tuesday after the flooded Chaita stream started eroding embankment in the area.

“Around 150 metres long embankment in Chaita has been eroded. The settlement is at risk of being swept away if the flooded stream breaches its embankments,” said Bhilananda Yadav, chief of the Koshi and Bakraha River Management Project.

According to him, efforts are on to repair the embankment and control the stream.

In Jhapa, at least 105 houses were inundated in Jhapa Rural Municipality after floods in Kankai River breached its embankment at Sadakbari on Monday afternoon.

“At least 83 houses at Milanbasti in Ward No. 1 and 22 houses at 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 flood water receded,” said Sah.

The flooded river has breached a 300m long section of the embankment.

“The floodwaters had been eroding the embankment for the last four days,” said Jhatru Rajbanshi, one of the displaced people 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 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.”

Meanwhile, 47 out of 56 doors of the Koshi barrage were opened after the water level in the river crossed the danger level on Tuesday morning.

(With inputs from our local correspondents.)