Nepal urges villagers to evacuate after landslide triggers flood

Nepali authorities urged villagers on Sunday to move to safer places after a flood in a river in the central part of the country swept away several houses and infrastructure, but there were no reports of any casualties.

A dry landslide in Chumnubri village in Gorkha district, about 100 km (62 miles) west of Kathmandu, blocked the Budhi Gandaki River, leading to downstream flooding, authorities said.

The Budhi Gandaki is a tributary of the Trishuli River, downstream from another tributary where a glacier collapse caused a catastrophic flood in August 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 had been swept away, and a hydroelectric project camp was damaged by the flood.

The flooded river carrying muddy sludge is rising and has washed away a highway bridge connecting Gorkha with the neighbouring Dhading district, said Dharam Raj Uprety, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

The army rescued six people from Jagat who were facing the risk of a landslide, Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post. Another 18 workers at the hydroelectric project that had its camp was damaged escaped to safety, Uprety said.

National disaster authorities alerted people living along the river in the Gorkha, Tanahun, Chitwan, East Nawalparasi and West Nawalparasi districts about the flood.

"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.

Officials said army and police rescue personnel had reached the area and were also monitoring the situation from a helicopter.

-Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Jamie Freed/Reuters