Nepal rescuers search for missing after flash flood / Photo: SOVIT SHRESTHA - AFP
Nepal rescuers search for missing after flash flood
Nepali rescuers searched for five missing people on Monday, a day after devastating flash floods swept away more than 200 houses and five bridges along the Budhi Gandaki river.
Videos showed a dark, debris-filled river surging through the hills in central Nepal's Gorkha district.
No deaths have been confirmed.
On Sunday, 95 people including nine foreigners were rescued.
"We are continuing our work on rescue and relief," Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal Army spokesman told AFP, adding that four helicopters had been deployed.
"We do not have any new information on the five missing," he added.
About 150 foreign trekkers are in the area, according to the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal, many on the popular Manaslu circuit trek.
"We are working with authorities to rescue those who are stranded because of the roads," the association's president Sagar Pandey said.
Authorities were also delivering aid to affected communities, with many residents fleeing their homes on Sunday morning as the torrent hit.
The flood also struck hydropower plants, according to the national disaster agency.
"I screamed out loud to get people out. Just a few minutes after people ran out the flood crashed through," local resident Indra Bahadur Gurung said.
"We have always lived here, and find it difficult to leave. I hope the government will manage something safe for us soon."
- 'Reducing future risks' -
Preliminary data suggests that a landslide had dammed the river. It then burst, with the water surging downstream.
"The government has already begun taking the necessary steps to restore normal life," Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a post on social media late Sunday.
He urged residents to stay in safe locations and to avoid travel on risky roads and bridges.
Nepal is still recovering from devastating floods on August 26, triggered by a mountain glacial collapse, which killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000 missing.
Shah told the United Nations last month that the August flooding "was a warning to the world" about the rising dangers of climate change.
Basanta Raj Adhikari, director at the Centre for Disaster Studies at Tribhuvan University, said that the latest flood showed the need for better monitoring.
"The frequency of the disasters is dangerous... it shows we need to go beyond our traditional river-level based early warning systems," Adhikari said, suggesting satellite images and seismometers could help detect events earlier.
The Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said Sunday that the floods highlighted the "range of hazards capable of generating destructive floods" in Himalayan river systems.
"Understanding what triggered this flood will be critical for reducing future risks and strengthening resilience," the centre's director general Pema Gyamtsho said in the statement.
Heavy rainfall in late September also triggered floods and landslides, killing at least 21 people, according to the disaster agency.
W.Baert --JdB
