KATHMANDU • A landslide and floods caused by heavy rain have killed at least 41 people in Nepal and India in the past week, officials said yesterday, as the annual monsoon season enters its final stretch after claiming hundreds of lives in South Asian countries.
Ten people, including four children, were killed after a landslide buried five houses in remote west Nepal on Sunday, a Home Ministry official said.
At least 269 people have died in mostly mountainous Nepal this year in landslides and floods, while another 76 people are missing.
The monsoon season that began around June in South Asia ends this month.
In the western Indian state of Gujarat, 14 people have died in the past two days in various incidents related to heavy rain and flooding, said officials at the State Emergency Response Centre.
Rainfall in Gujarat is 20 per cent more than the long-period average, according to the local government.
The state's desert area of Kutch received rainfall that was 21/2 times higher than the average.
More heavy to very heavy rain is expected in several parts of the state over the next two days, according to the India Meteorological Department.
In Odisha state to the east, floods have killed at least 17 people in the past week, displaced thousands and affected more than half a million people, officials said.
Hundreds have died in the north-eastern state of Assam and neighbouring Bangladesh this monsoon.
Karachi residents began cleaning ruined homes and shops yesterday after catastrophic flooding sent rivers of filthy water cascading through Pakistan's largest city.
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20%
Percentage more rain than the long-period average in India's Gujarat, according to the local government.
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21/2
Number of times above the average rainfall that Gujarat's desert area of Kutch received.
During a single day last week, 18 Karachi residents died from flood-related incidents.
More than 100 Pakistanis died last month because of the monsoon, which has also destroyed over 1,000 homes.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
