Subscribe
On the afternoon of September 27, Nakul Sedhain, an employee of an international NGO, set off from Kathmandu with his wife and five-year-old son. Their destination was Bardibas in Mahottari, a 197-kilometre journey via the BP Highway, which crosses the Rosi River, a tributary of the Koshi. Sedhain had made this trip many times before, but this time, the heavy rains turned it into a nightmare.
Torrential rainfall from September 26- 28 have caused significant loss of life and damage to property across Nepal. The heavy downpour broke records, with 25 locations in 14 districts registering unprecedented rainfall levels.
Meanwhile, having set off at 3 PM, the Sedhain family expected to reach Bardibas after a five-and-a-half-hour drive on a public vehicle. However, disaster struck just 67 kms into their journey. Incessant rainfall had swollen rivers, and parts of the road were swept away by the raging waters.
Sedhain, his family and the other passengers attempted to go on with their journey with the assistance of police authorities, but their efforts were futile.
Turning back was equally impossible—the roads they had crossed just hours back were now submerged.
Stranded, the group had no choice but to spend the night in the vehicle, relying on whatever food the local villagers could spare. By morning, it was clear they needed to take action.
“There was no phone signal, so we didn’t know the situation beyond where we were trapped. Even the police had no information,” Nakul shared with Down To Earth (DTE).
“So, we decided to walk.”
As they trudged forward, their shoes were soon lost to the debris. Barefoot, they continued, but soon faced another challenge: crossing a powerful stream. Two passengers were swept away by the current, only to be rescued a few metres downstream. Shaken by the incident, Sedhain’s family decided to return to the vehicle and spend another night there.
The next morning, they made a difficult decision—to walk back to Kathmandu. The journey was gruelling, demanding them to climb hills to avoid landslides, only to descend again to the riverbanks. After hours of trekking, they finally reached Bhakunde Besi, a small town teeming with stranded passengers, rescue workers, and anxious families searching for their loved ones.
Miraculously, they managed to secure a room in a hotel, though it lacked basic amenities like light and drinking water.
By the following morning, luck was on their side. Sedhain and his family found space in the back of a truck, which took them to Dhulikhel, a tourist town. From there, they were able to board a bus back to Kathmandu, bringing an end to their 72-hour-long ordeal.
“It was the most terrifying 72 hours of my life, but we survived,” Nakul said.
“I even tried to hire a helicopter, but they were all busy. Even the security personnel were helpless,” he added.
In the western part of Kathmandu, Nagdhunga-Naubise road section was blocked because of the landslide. Police found 14 bodies inside three buses that were hit by landslides.
Sedhain and hundreds others could have been spared from this traumatic experience if the government had acted properly, said Deependra Joshi, a climate change and disaster expert. Speaking to DTE, he criticised the authorities for not responding to warnings.
“Despite the red alert from the meteorological department, the government was unprepared and did not take it seriously. It was a failure in preparedness,” Joshi said.
According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the monsoon low-pressure system brought heavy to torrential rains. By 8:45 AM on September 28, rainfall in several areas had exceeded all the previous 24-hour precipitation records.
With warnings issued for extreme rainfall across all seven provinces, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) called for precautions, including halting night bus services in high-risk hilly and mountainous areas on September 27 and 28.
According to the department 239.7 mm of rain fell at the Tribhuvan International Airport’s Rain Measurement Center within 24 hours, setting a new record. The previous record, set in 2002, was 177 mm.
In Lalitpur’s Chapagaun, 323 mm of rain was recorded, surpassing the 2002 record of 200.5 mm. Other locations also experienced significant rainfall: 112.4 mm in Jiri, 100 mm in Janakpur, 113.3 mm in Lumle, 177.6 mm in Dharan, 173 mm in Dhankuta, 110.1 mm in Okhaldhunga, 194 mm in Kathmandu, 120 mm in Simra, and 194.2 mm in Bhairahawa.
In the tragedy that struck Nepal, not all were fortunate enough to survive the onslaught like the Sedhain family.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the continuous rainfall has affected 20 districts, with at least 217 people dead, 143 injured, and 28 missing in areas including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Koshi, Madhesh, and Bagmati Provinces. Additionally, almost 4,000 people have been rescued as of 30 September night.
The extreme weather has also caused significant infrastructural damage. Twenty-three highways have been blocked or damaged, leading to losses estimated at over 2 billion Nepali rupees.
The Nepal Electricity Authority's preliminary report indicates damage to 22 hydroelectric power plants and nine transmission lines, resulting in a loss of 1,000 megawatts of electricity, including 456 MW from the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Plant.
"Mahabharat Range and the Shivalik hills have saved Nepal's mid hills region including Kathmandu valley by stopping the direct impact of climatic variations of Monsoon for long but uncontrolled human activities in the region, over exploitation natural resources and the climate change have started to show results, the incident of last week of September is one example," Ngamindra Dahal, climate scientist told DTE.
Meanwhile, Madhusudan Guragain, an environmental journalist living in the Rosi River basin, believes this disaster is entirely man-made.
"Every hill in the Rosi River basin is home to illegal stone mines and crushers, turning stones into construction materials," he says. "These operations are run by politicians and criminals. The worst part is that all the waste from these mines is dumped into the river basin, disrupting the natural water flow in the hills," he remarked.
The effect of the rain in Kathmandu differs from other regions. Once a fertile valley, it has been destroyed by unregulated and unplanned urbanisation.
Batu Krishna Upreti, a climate expert, highlighted three key factors behind the recent flood damages.
First, Upreti mentioned that the available climate data may not have been properly used to understand trends and predict climate risks, vulnerabilities, and potential damage.
Second, the uncontrolled encroachment of riverbanks, combined with efforts to regulate them with retaining walls that narrow river width without considering sedimentation rates and flood predictions, could be a major concern.
Third, the damage or destruction of water infrastructure points to a failure to apply sound engineering principles, bioengineering, and ecosystem-based adaptation practices.
"Additionally, there has been a lack of effort to inform people about the possible dangers of floods in riverbank settlements, and the dismissive attitude of some settlers may have worsened the damage," Upreti concluded.