Nepali officials ordered villagers along the Budhi Gandaki River to evacuate Sunday after a landslide-triggered flood swept away houses, bridges and a hydroelectric camp. No casualties have been reported.
A dry landslide in Chumnubri village in the Gorkha district, roughly 62 miles west of Kathmandu, blocked the Budhi Gandaki River. The blockage gave way and sent floodwaters downstream.
The Budhi Gandaki feeds into the Trishuli River, downstream from another tributary where a glacier collapse in August caused a catastrophic flood that killed 1,457 people, with thousands still missing.
“We have asked villagers living along the river banks downstream to evacuate and remain safe,” said Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, the Gorkha district’s most senior bureaucrat.
Mishra said about a dozen houses and two suspension bridges were swept away, and a hydroelectric project camp was damaged.
Dharam Raj Uprety, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said the river’s muddy, rising floodwaters also washed away a highway bridge connecting Gorkha to the neighboring Dhading district.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post that the army rescued six people from Jagat who had faced the risk of a landslide. Uprety said 18 workers at the damaged hydroelectric project camp escaped to safety on their own.
National disaster authorities issued flood alerts to residents in the Gorkha, Tanahun, Chitwan, East Nawalparasi and West Nawalparasi districts.
“Please help ensure that people in at-risk areas are moved to safe locations in time and assist search and rescue operations as needed,” the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said in a social media post.
Army and police rescue teams have reached the affected area and are monitoring the situation by helicopter, officials said.
