Heavy rain inundates settlements in Kathmandu, throws daily life out of gear

Kathmandu [Nepal], August 6 : After heavy rains, the rising level of the Bagmati River has flooded settlements on its banks and affected the slum dwellers of Kathmandu.
Bishnu Maya Shrestha, a slum dweller, saw her tin-roof house get flooded and a portion of the land mass swept by the Bagmati River's flood.
"The government always talks about resettling us to other safer places but nothing has been done till now. We still are not sure whether they will relocate us or not. It has been years that we have been residing here. The river water has entered my house multiple times," Bishnu told ANI.
The Kathmandu Valley on Tuesday received heavy rainfall turning all the roads into flooded rivers with people struggling to do their daily chores.

Students in their college uniform were seen holding their shoes in hand and wading through the flood water while office goers were stuck alongside the flooded roads.
The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology on Monday issued a warning of torrential rainfall for the coming two days declaring over three dozen districts to be in the red zone. It had called on people to maintain caution and avoid travel if not required.
As per the record, the Dhap Dam area in the outskirts of Kathmandu which works as a supply line for Kathmandu's water on Tuesday alone recorded 59.4-millimeter rainfall within 12 hours. Kapan received 84.5 millimeters whereas Thali received 67.6-millimeter rain within the same duration. Lalitpur's Godawari received 101.6 millimeters of rain while Naikap received 56.4 millimeters of rainfall.
It is not uncommon for a densely populated and unplanned city like Kathmandu to get flooded following torrential rainfall every monsoon. But, the absence of a proper alert system for those living in the embankments or near the river has become an issue of major concern.
"As the water level continues to rise and enter the settlements, losses, and properties have been damaged. This year alone we faced the floods three times. In due course of about a week, a few days back one of the settlers was washed away by flood and died. Food items, clothes and educational materials- books, copies and others, used by children have been damaged in addition to blankets and beds," Prajwal Limbu, another slum dweller told ANI.
The Himalayan nation this year is expecting more than average monsoon rainfall and early July usually doesn't record incidents of monsoon-induced disasters. The monsoon season in the Himalayan Nation generally begins on June 13 and ends on September 23.
Last year, it started on June 14, one day later than the normal onset day.
Nepal records high mortality due to landslides and flooding during monsoons on an annual basis provided the terrain and unplanned urbanization as well as settlement in the slopes prone to landslides.
Monsoon formally gathered and spread all across the Himalayan Nation from the middle of June which is expected to remain active for about three months.
As the monsoon continues to pound Nepal, the government has estimated that as many as 1.8 million people could be affected by rain-related incidents during the season.
According to a statement by the 28th Session of the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum released on April 29, above-normal rainfall is most likely during the monsoon season over most parts of South Asia except some areas over northern, eastern, and north-eastern parts of the region, where below normal rainfall is most likely.
Landslides triggered by heavy rains in Nepal cause tremendous damage to life, property, infrastructure and the environment. In Tarai, tens of thousands of people are affected by floods every year. In the hills, landslides are the main natural hazards occurring very frequently, mostly during monsoon.
The normal monsoon onset and withdrawal dates are June 13 and October 2 respectively. Last year, the monsoon entered eastern Nepal on June 14 and withdrew from eastern Nepal on October 15, delayed by thirteen days.
This year, South Asian meteorologists say, there is a strong consensus among the experts that La Nina conditions are likely to develop over the equatorial Pacific during the second half of the southwest monsoon season. It is also recognized that the La Nina conditions are generally associated with the normal to above-normal southwest monsoon rainfall over most parts of South Asia.
El Nino and La Nina are two opposing climate patterns that break these normal conditions. Global temperatures typically increase during an El Nino episode and fall during La Nina. El Nino means warmer water spreads further and stays closer to the surface. This releases more heat.