Gorkha flooding sweeps away six bridges and leaves 10 missing

Floodwaters in Nepal’s Gorkha district swept away six bridges and left 10 people reported missing, The Times of India reported. The flooding occurred along the Budhi Gandaki River basin in the district’s northern part, where the flood struck around 4 am, according to the outlet.

The missing-person figure was attributed to Assistant chief district officer Netra Prasad Sharma, who told ANI that 10 people had been reported missing since the flooding began. The six bridges comprised two motorable bridges and four suspension bridges, the report said. It also described a Bailey bridge connecting wards 1 and 3 of Dharche Rural Municipality as swept away.

The account does not say whether that Bailey bridge is included in the six-bridge total, so the two details should not be added together as a confirmed total. Nearly 35 houses in Painyu and Bagar, in Ward 3 of Chumnubri Rural Municipality, were swept away, according to The Times of India. The report also named damage in settlements in Jagat, Salleri, Dovan and Ghattekhola.

It did not provide a count of damaged homes in those settlements. The outlet said the flooding caused extensive damage to the local market, citing Chumnubri Rural Municipality deputy chair Laxmi Gurung. The report supplied no monetary estimate for that damage. It did not give further particulars about the market’s condition.

The immediate official action described in the report was monitoring the river’s fluctuating water level. It did not include a further account of measures taken by authorities.

The report’s details about the missing people and property damage were attributed to the named district official, municipal deputy chair and officials; it did not provide additional confirmation of those figures. The flooding account also referred to earlier floods in Nepal’s Rasuwa district.

It said flooding in the Rasuwa and Trishuli river areas claimed 1,455 lives and left 5,285 people missing, citing the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. That earlier event was described as occurring on August 26, but the account did not state its year. The current Gorkha report did not establish a connection between the two flood events.