Nepal assesses damage after deadly floods kill at least 193 people | Flood News

Search and rescue teams are searching destroyed homes in Nepal's capital as floods recede.

Officials reported on Monday that the death toll from monsoon floods and landslides around the Himalayan state had risen to 193. At least 31 others were missing and many more were injured, police said.

Entire neighborhoods in Kathmandu were flooded after the heaviest rains in more than two decades, and the capital was temporarily cut off from the rest of the country after highways were blocked by landslides.

“Our focus is on search and rescue, including of people stranded on highways,” said Home Ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari.

Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. However, experts believe that climate change is making them worse.

The International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, a Nepal-based think tank, said the disaster was worsened by unplanned urban encroachments around the Bagmati River, which flows through the capital.

The Nepalese army said more than 4,000 people were rescued using helicopters, motorboats and rafts.

Bulldozers were used to clear nearly two dozen sections of main roads into Kathmandu that were blocked by debris.

The Nepal Meteorological Department said preliminary data from stations in 14 districts measured record-breaking rainfall in the 24 hours to Saturday morning.

A monitoring station at Kathmandu airport recorded about 240 mm (9.4 inches) of rain, the highest rainfall since 2002.

The monsoon season brings 70-80 percent of South Asia's annual rainfall and is crucial for agriculture and food production in a region home to about two billion people.

But monsoon rains also bring widespread death and destruction in the form of floods and landslides.

Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity.

More than 300 people have died in rain disasters in Nepal this year.