SlunečnoWeatherSunshine.com - Articles - What caused the devastating floods in Nepal?

What caused the devastating floods in Nepal?

10/03/24

Many are wondering what caused the recent devastating floods in Nepal that claimed two hundred lives. Experts believe that climate change has had an adverse effect on the intensity of this year's floods. Bad urban planning and a whole host of other factors also play a big role here.

Photo:Pixabay

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


Other articles

In the following article we will introduce the five largest deserts in the world. Many people imagine deserts as... more

Fourteen themed photos that you can use as your desktop background. more

Taiwan was recently hit by Super Typhoon Kong-rey which will go down in history as one of the strongest in recent... more

Torrential rains surprised thousands of residents of southeastern Spain. A year's worth of rainfall fell in some... more

The Caspian Sea began to shrink already in the nineties of the last century, but it began to lose the most water only... more

The Philippines is facing one of the strongest tropical storms in recent years which has already claimed over seven... more

Fourteen photos on the theme of Halloween. more

In the past week Italy and central France were hit by storms and heavy rainfall which resulted in flooding in many... more

There are countless islands on Earth but only some of them stand out for their beauty. In the following article we... more

Antarctica, like the rest of the planet is affected by climate change and global warming. Despite the fact that most... more



All articles

Newslettter

Weather to your email

We'll send a daily weather forecast every morning without ads



Unsubscribe newsletter

Weather photo gallery

Nature photo gallery

PhotogalleryPhotogallery
PhotogalleryPhotogallery
PhotogalleryPhotogallery


Beautiful photos of nature as the wallpapers for your desktop

All articles

WeatherSunshine.com