A flash flood along the Budhi Gandaki River in Nepal’s Gorkha district destroyed houses and several bridges on Sunday, leaving five people unaccounted for, according to disaster authorities and local media.
The surge is suspected to have been set off by a landslide in the Chekampar area, which sent mud and debris down the river, officials said. Residents of riverside settlements were told to move to higher ground.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said two women and three men were missing and that no deaths had been confirmed. The agency said at least 82 people, including nine foreigners, had been rescued. Other reports gave a lower figure of six rescued, and the numbers had not been reconciled.
NDRRMA chief executive Dharam Raj Uprety said a highway bridge linking Gorkha with neighbouring Dhading district was carried away. Home Minister Sudan Gurung said a bridge between Nyakchet and Philim Bazar was also destroyed, and a suspension footbridge connecting Machhakhola and Kerauja in Dharche-5 was washed out.
Damage to buildings was reported at Salleri Bazaar and Jagat Bazaar. Gorkha’s chief district officer, Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, said early information indicated five to seven houses in the riverbed at Jagat had gone. Authorities put the number of houses lost at about a dozen, while some media accounts cited roughly 35. The flood also damaged a hydroelectric project camp, taking away some of its construction equipment.
Nepal Army personnel were involved in the response, and search operations were continuing.
The flood comes weeks after a separate deadly flash flood in the country. Nepal’s monsoon season normally ends in September, and heavy rain and glacial or landslide-driven surges regularly cause damage in its mountain districts.
Casualty and damage figures are preliminary and may change as assessments proceed.
