Floods triggered by incessant rainfall since Saturday evening have caused further damage to the riverbank areas of Helambu Rural Municipality, Melamchi.

Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Rajan Adhikari, floods swept away six houses at Kiul village in ​​Helambu and six houses in Melamchi Bazaar at around 9:30 pm.

The flood also destroyed the building of Radio Melamchi in Melamchi Bazaar.

“The concrete motorable bridge and the suspension bridge at Chanaute connecting Helambu-4 and Gyalthum Bazaar have also been swept away,” said Adhikari. “Around 40 houses in Gyalthum Bazaar are at risk of floods.”

The local authorities and security personnel had warned the locals of Timbu, Gyalthum and Melamchi Bazaar about possible floods.

The locals had then shifted to safer locations.

“Everybody had vacated their homes so there was no loss of life,” said Adhikari.

Earlier, on June 15, a sudden dam burst upriver triggered landslides and caused significant damage to Melamchi Municipality and Melamchi Water Supply Project and across several places in the district.

As floodwaters started gushing into settlements, hundreds of families were displaced in the Melamchi Bazaar area.

Although the Saturday night floods have receded in the settlements, the locals are still worried as the water level in the river has not decreased.

The motorable bridge connecting Helambu to Melamchi road section has also been further damaged by the floods.

According to Arjun Bhandari, a local resident of Helambu, the destruction of the bridge will completely cut off Helambu from the rest of the district.