KATMANDU: Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods blocking roads, washing away bridges and killing at least 22 people in the last 36 hours in Nepal, officials said on Sunday.
Eighteen people were killed in separate landslides in the Ilam district in the east bordering India, police spokesperson Binod Ghimire said. Three people were killed in southern Nepal in lightning strikes and one person died in floods in Udayapur district, also in east Nepal, he said.
Eleven people were washed away by floods and have been missing since Saturday, authorities said.
“Rescue efforts for them are going on,” Shanti Mahat, a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) spokesperson, said.
Several highways have been blocked by landslides and washed away by floods, stranding hundreds of passengers, authorities said.
“Domestic flights are largely disrupted but international flights are operating normally,” Rinji Sherpa, a spokesperson for Katmandu airport said.
In southeastern Nepal, the Koshi River, which causes deadly floods in the eastern Indian state of Bihar almost every year, was flowing above the danger level, a district official said.
Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, district governor of Sunsari district, said water flows in the Koshi River were more than double normal.
Mishra said all 56 sluice gates of the Koshi Barrage had been opened to drain out water compared with about 10 to 12 during a normal situation, adding that authorities are “preparing to ban heavy vehicles from its bridge”.
In hill-ringed Katmandu, several rivers have flooded roads and inundated many houses, cutting the temple-studded capital off from the rest of the country by road.
Hundreds of people die every year in landslides and flash floods that are common in mostly mountainous Nepal during the monsoon season which normally starts in mid-June and continues through mid-September.
Weather officials say rains are likely to lash the Himalayan nation until Monday and authorities say they are taking “maximum care and precautions” to help people affected by the disaster.
Heavy rains kill at least 22 in Nepal, block roads
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Heavy rains kill at least 22 in Nepal, block roads
- Hundreds of people die every year in landslides and flash floods that are common in mostly mountainous Nepal during the monsoon season
Ukraine president to meet European allies after Trump criticism
- Talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough
- President Donald Trump accuses Ukrainian leader of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia
LONDON: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was due to meet with European allies in London on Monday, after President Donald Trump accused him of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia.
It comes after days of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough, with Zelensky committing to further negotiations.
The Ukrainian president will be received in London by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with the German chancellor and French president to discuss the negotiations.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is meanwhile expected in Washington on Monday, where she will meet her American counterpart Marco Rubio.
“The UK and US will reaffirm their commitment to reaching a peace deal in Ukraine,” the Foreign Office in London said, announcing Cooper’s visit.
Moscow has meanwhile continued to strike its neighbor, wounding at least nine people overnight Sunday to Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
‘Disappointed’
Zelensky said he joined his negotiators for a “very substantive and constructive” call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during the Miami negotiations.
“Ukraine is committed to continuing to work honestly with the American side to bring about real peace,” Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that the parties agreed “on the next steps and the format of the talks with America.”
But Trump criticized his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, telling reporters “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago.”
Witkoff and Kushner had met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last week, with Moscow rejecting parts of the US proposal.
French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of Monday’s talks slammed what he called Russia’s “escalatory path.”
“We will continue these efforts with the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which no robust and lasting peace will be possible,” Macron wrote on X.
He added: “We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace.”
Hot and cold
Washington’s initial plan to bring an end to the almost four-year war involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not been able to win on the battlefield in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.
But the nature of the security guarantees that Ukraine could get has so far been shrouded in uncertainty, beyond an initial plan saying that jets to defend Kyiv could be based in Poland.
Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially embracing Putin and chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.
But he has also grown frustrated that his efforts to persuade Putin to end the war, including a summit in Alaska, have failed to produce results and he recently slapped sanctions on Russian oil firms.
