Floods death toll mounts to 91


Kantipur Report 

KATHMANDU, Aug 1 - Seven more deaths related to floods were reported on Wednesday, mounting the death toll following devastating monsoon across the country to 91. 

The dead include four children. 

Upasana Magar, 40, from Rajgardh village, was swept away by the Bhuteni River in Jhapa on Wednesday. 

Also in Jhapa, two children were swept away by floods in two local rivers on Tuesday. 

Police said, Chandra Bahadur Raut, 7, from Charpane VDC-5 and Reema Deuja, 6, from Sharanmati VDC-6 were swept away by flooding Ghagra and Birang Rivers, respectively. 

Two more flood-related deaths were reported in Bardiya district. 

Body of Dhani Ram Chaudhary, 55, from Motipur VDC-7 was recovered from Chapanala River on Wednesday. Similarly, Nisha Chaudhary, 6, from Kalika VDC-2 was found floating on Suiya River, police said. 

Similarly, two deaths were reported in neighbouring Kailali district. 

Nin Singh Bohara, 55, from Lalbojhi VDC-5 and Prakash Chaudhary, 3, were found dead after they went missing in flooding rivers in the district. 

Ketana-Bhadrapur road in the district has also been disrupted due to the floods. 

More than two thousand people displaced in the waterlogged Nepalgunj have not been able to return homes for the last eight days. 

Many of them have complained that they were discriminated on political grounds while receiving relief supplies. 

The water level in flood-affected Nepalgunj had surged once again on Tuesday as the Rapti and Daduwa Rivers overflowed following Monday night's heavy rainfall. 

Frustrated local residents continued their protest for the second day at the Birendra Chowk and disrupted public transport to press the municipal and the local administrations to quickly find an outlet for the waterlogged town. 

The town has again faced a power outage since Tuesday morning as the switchboard at the local power sub-station got waterlogged after Monday night's downpour. The electricity in the town had only been restored on Monday afternoon after five days. 

However, the water level has started to recede in most of the flood-affected areas. This has helped the rescue workers. But, the fear of water-borne diseases and epidemics has increased.  

In parliament, the lawmakers Suryaman Gurung, Kailash Nath Kashodhan and Sabitri Bogati Pathak drew the government's attention to the possible outbreak of epidemics in the affected areas. 

They also urged the government to work on a war footing to distribute relief packages to the flood and landslide victims in Terai. 

A high-level government team led by Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula inspected the flood-affected Sarlahi district on Wednesday. The Government team had inspected Mahottari district Tuesday. 

Posted on: 2007-08-01 09:17:25 (Server Time)