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Hundreds of people from Topgachhi, Panchgachhi, Tanghandubba, Rajgadh, Dangibari and Sharanamati fled their villages to safer places after the floods entered the VDCs late Saturday night. While flood in Kankai caused much damage in Topgachhi 8 and 9, Rajgadh VDC has also suffered badly.
The swollen Kankai has started eroding land in Panchgachhi, Satasidham, Topgachhi and Mahabhara on the western side and Rajgadh, Sharanamati and Tanghandubba on the eastern side. Some 200 households each in Panchgachhi and Rajgadh have been affected while dozens more have been affected in other villages.
Similarly, locals have been left in the lurch after Biring river breached the dam built at Ghailadubba and entered villages.
Last week, flood in Kankai had displaced 10 households in Satasidham 7 and 10, while some 50 bigahas of land were swept away. This time around, the impact has been bigger after the river entered more than a dozen villages. "More than 500 houses have been inundated," Superintendent of Police Vijay Bhatta said, adding, "Chances are high that more cultivable land will be submerged."
After the flooding, a huge number of security personnel from Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepal Army has been mobilized for rescue and relief operations since Sunday afternoon. "We are shifting the victims to secure areas," Bhatta said. He, however, added that the damage may increase unless the rain stops.
Even if no loss of life has been reported so far, the villagers have incurred heavy loss of property as hundreds of bigahas of land have been turned into riverbed. "Some 10 houses in my village, including mine has been swept away," Omnath Mainali of Topgachhi-7 said. Mainali said the damage was minimized as the villagers moved food and and other household materials to safety. The worst affected are who had paddy fields near the river banks.
Floods have caused damages in other parts of the district. Flood in Mechi River has submerged the huts of squatters in Bhadrapur-2. Similarly, flood in Ninda river has left dozens of families of Jyamirgadhi 2, 3, 5 and 7 homeless.
No effort to control the flood has been taken so far and no expert group has reached the district till late Sunday. "We can only rescue the people. The experts have to look into controlling the floods," SP Bhatta said.
An experts´ team was sent to Ilam on Saturday after landslide in Chapeti Bhir blocked Ratuwa river raising fears of flood in Jhapa.
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