Homes and bridges swept away as fresh floods  hit Nepal

KATHMANDU  – A major river in Nepal has flooded, sweep­ing away houses, bridges and damaging a part of hy­dropower station, author­ities have said. Around 50 people have been rescued from along the bank of the Budhi Gandaki River in the central Gorkha dis­trict, the army confirmed. No casualties have been reported yet, however five people are missing. A video of the flood shows the moment raging wa­ters sweep down a valley and wash away an entire building complex. Nepal is on high alert and still trying to recover from catastrophic floods that hit its border towns with Tibet two months ago, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and thou­sands missing. Sunday’s flood tore through the Gorkha district as chil­dren and communities prepared to mark the first day of the Dashain festival, a major moment in the Nepali calendar. Families have been forced to flee their homes, with many facing uncertainty over where they will find safe shelter and access to essential supplies. The flood swept away about a dozen houses and several suspension bridges, while a hydroelectric project was damaged, carrying some of the construction equipment away, the Na­tional Disaster Risk Re­duction and Management Authority said. Within a couple of hours, the riv­er’s water levels at one location had risen from two metres (6ft 5in) to nearly 8.5m (27ft 9in), officials said. Binod Para­juli, a meteorologist who works with the Nepalese government, said: “Our hydrological station was swept away and we are not getting any data from that location.” However, experts say the debris-flow is much smaller and travelled more slowly than the devastating flash floods in August.