Nepal landslides kill 12 as floods disrupt water for 4,500
Collected Photo
Rain-triggered landslides across Baglung district in Nepal over the past three days killed at least 12 people and left one person missing, police confirmed.
The tragic incident unfolded at Sipa in Tarakhola Rural Municipality-5, where a landslide buried a home. The disaster killed 55-year-old Dil Bahadur Pun and his 79-year-old mother-in-law Narmaya Roka, according to District Police Office Chief SP Phanindra Prasai.
Emergency responders rescued Pun’s injured wife, two sons, and daughter-in-law from the debris before transferring them for medical treatment.
Police reported that a landslide killed one individual in Tarakhola on Saturday, while landslides in Tamankhola Rural Municipality left four people dead and one missing. Landslides and flooding claimed five lives in Nisikhola Rural Municipality, bringing the total fatality count across Baglung district to 12.
Following the tragedy, the Gandaki Provincial Government announced financial relief for affected families, deciding to provide Rs 1,00,000 to each family losing a member in recent floods and landslides across Baglung and Myagdi.
Provincial government spokesperson and Finance Minister Jit Bahadur Sherchan stated that affected families would also receive Rs 25,000 for funeral expenses. Authorities initiated data collection regarding deaths, infrastructure damage, and property losses throughout the province to prepare reconstruction and rehabilitation programs.
Simultaneously, heavy floods damaged major drinking water infrastructure, disrupting supplies to around 4,500 consumers in Baglung Bazaar since Sunday.
Officials at the Baglung Municipal Water Supply and Consumers’ Institution reported that floodwaters severely damaged the main transmission pipeline near Hanumanmauwa in Baglung Municipality-3, which channels water from the Kailampokhari lift system to storage tanks at Suldanda and Mushyaswara.
Floodwaters also damaged pipelines carrying water from the Rithekhola source along the Tityang-Bhakunde border and the Bhundikhola source in Kathekhola Rural Municipality.
Institution secretary Jeevan Acharya confirmed that intense rainfall and flooding impacted all four primary water sources supplying Baglung Bazaar, washing away pipelines at multiple sites and damaging parts of the distribution network.
Floodwaters swept away roughly 80 meters of pipeline at Rithekhola. However, Acting chairperson Haribahadur GC stated that workers already completed repair work on the Rithekhola pipeline and continue restoration efforts on other damaged sections to restore normal water distribution as quickly as possible.
The latest deaths and infrastructure losses add to the rising toll of continuous rain, floods, and landslides impacting multiple districts across Gandaki Province.
Source: The Himalayan Times (adapted)
