Post-monsoon rains, despite giving a respite to the people who had to brave scorching heat during Dashain, caused damage to the standing as well as harvested paddy across the country.
The rains, coupled with winds, bent the budding paddy plants in Ilam and Jhapa, while the rain water accumulated in the field submerged the harvested paddy in Rupandehi and other districts.
With adverse weather due to joint effects of the low pressure developed in the Bay of Bengal and the westerlies, most regions including the Kathmandu Valley have been witnessing intermittent rains since Saturday night while the high mountainous regions of Karnali have received snow since Sunday evening.
According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD) under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, heavy rains lashed some parts of the Sudurpaschim Province since Monday morning.
Similarly, light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning is falling in some places of Karnali, Lumbini and Gandaki provinces and one or two places in other provinces.
“Low pressure area is gradually moving northward from the Bay of Bengal and has been causing rains and cloudy weather in most parts of the country and this situation will continue till Wednesday,” Meteorologist Ganga Nagarkoti said.
“There is a possibility of light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning in many places of Sudurpaschim, Karnali, Gandaki and Lumbini and in some places of Province 1, Province 2 and Bagmati Province till Tuesday morning,” she said.
The post-monsoon rains have led to the first snowfall of the year 2078 BS in the northern area of Humla district.
Villages like Limi, Hilsa and Yari located beyond the Himalayas have received snow with rains since Sunday.
Chief District Officer of Humla Ganesh Acharya said that more than one foot of snow had piled up in Yari and Hilsa of Ward No. 5 and Limi of Ward No. 6 of Namkha Rural Municipality.
He said that the snowfall with rains continued till Monday evening as per information received from Limi, Hilsa and Yari police stations.
According to the police, the temperature in the area has fallen to minus four degrees Celsius due to the piling up of snow on the ground.
Both of these areas lie at an altitude of 4,200 meters. There are five settlements in Limi and Yari. With the snowfall, the 5,000-meter-high Nyalu entrance to Limi and the Nara Lake entrance to Hilsa have been blocked.
Flights disrupted in Humla
Continuous post-monsoon rain has affected regular air service in Humla, the only means of transportation in the district.
The district has been witnessing continuous rain since Sunday night. Air service from Nepalgunj to Simkot has come to a halt since Monday morning due to bad weather, station in-charge of Summit Air Govinda Lama said.
Similarly, Tara Air has also cancelled all its scheduled flights to Simkot from Nepalgunj citing bad weather. Passengers bound to Simkot from Nepalgunj have been waiting for favourable weather. Over 40 passengers from Simkot to Nepalgunj have also been stuck in Simkot airport since Monday morning, Civil Aviation Authority, Simkot, said.
Summit Air, Tara Air and Sita Air have been conducting their regular flights to Humla from Nepalgunj.
Flood washes away diversion in Rupandehi
Meanwhile, a diversion constructed temporarily at Ghodah in Devadaha was washed away by the flood on Monday. It has been raining in Rupandehi since Sunday.
Earlier, the Ghodah bridge was washed away by the floods after the rains on August 27, 2021. The diversion was made after the bridge collapsed.
Vehicular movement has been disrupted after the diversion was swept away by the flood, DSP Dilli Narayan Pandey at Lumbini Province Traffic Police Office said.
Source : TRN,
