What caused the devastating floods in Nepal?

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Last week due to incessant rains the Bagmati River overflowed and caused flooding in the capital Kathmandu. The raging water destroyed thousands of homes and displaced many residents. Local residents tend to believe that the floods were caused by uncontrolled urban encroachment on the river that runs through the Kathmandu Valley.

Meteorologists recorded 240 millimeters of rain in Kathmandu over four days. In some parts of the city even 322 millimeters and this is the worst flooding since 2002. Even the sought-after tourist destination of Pokhara located two hundred kilometers from the capital was not spared from flooding.

Rescuers and firefighters are still searching for more than two dozen missing people. In addition to the police and firefighters, the army was deployed to help. Within a few days the army rescued around four thousand residents from the cut off parts of the city. Local roads are flooded, complicating rescue efforts. Most of them were undertaken with the help of helicopters which are a necessary help in mountainous areas.

An assistant professor in the civil engineering department at Tribhuvan University says man-made factors have contributed to the severity of the floods. One factor was unpreparedness and lack of early warning. Furthermore unscientific practices in land use. The narrowing of the Bagmati River due to urban development in the 1990s when Nepal was experiencing a population boom also played a big role. Simply put over the past fifty years roads and houses have been built in places that used to be part of the river system.

Source:AlJazeera/Editorial