Kathmandu - Hundreds of people have been forced out of their
homes once again after fresh floods hit parts of western Nepal, news
reports said Thursday.
The new wave of flooding came just weeks after the region was hit
by a devastating deluge that displaced tens of thousands of people.
Many of the displaced people only recently started returning to their
homes.
At least 500 families were displaced from their homes in about a
dozen villages in Banke and Bardiya districts, about 450 kilometres
west of the Nepalese capital, independent Kantipur Television
reported.
Part of the regional town of Nepalgunj was under water after the
town received over 150 millimetres of rain in a 24-hour period on
Wednesday.
The town has seen some of the worst flooding in recent years.
The flooding followed heavy monsoon rains in western Nepal since
Sunday, causing the major rivers to burst their banks.
The television station said parts of the two districts were cut
off from rest of the country after roads were submerged.
The Nepal Red Cross society said immediate rescue and relief
efforts were impossible to many parts of the districts due to
destroyed road infrastructure, the television report said.
The country's meteorological department said rains in western
Nepal this year were the highest since it started maintaining records
35 years ago.
It said some places in the region had received as much as 400
millimetres of rains in 72 hour period since Sunday.
In late July, heavy monsoon rains led to flooding across the
southern Nepalese plains. Government estimates said over 250,000
people were affected in almost half of Nepal 75 districts.
Over 105 people have now died in flash floods and landslides since
monsoons began in June. The monsoon rains usually last until the
middle of September.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story