Nepal: Landslides, floods kill at least 17

By Deepak Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AA) - Heavy monsoon rains have triggered landslides and floods across Nepal, killing at least 17 people in the last two days, officials said Tuesday.

Three people -- a postpartum mother, her baby, and a neighbor -- were buried to death on Monday when the wall of their stone-and-mud house collapsed in a village in Rolpa, midwestern Nepal.

In Banke in the country’s south, three people drowned in a swollen river.

“We have declared seven districts in the region and in the east as the hardest hit. So far, 17 people have been killed in the disaster,” said Banshi Raj Acharya, head of the country’s emergency center.

A man was swept away by a swollen stream on the outskirts of Kathmandu, the capital, and three people were missing across the country, he added.

Hundreds of houses in the southern plains were inundated after the areas were waterlogged, said Rishi Ram Sharma, a government meteorologist.

Five people were killed in two districts by landslides over the weekend.

Every year hundreds die due to landslides and floods during Nepal’s monsoon season, which runs between July and September.