When water suddenly invaded his Kathmandu slum overnight from Friday to Saturday, Indra Prasad Timilsina, 65, and his wife had just time to save what was most precious to them. Their three cows.
“Everything is gone,” laments this milkman, his feet in the thick brownish mud that has infiltrated everywhere in his house. “If you die, nothing matters. But if you survive, then you have to face all the problems.”
The torrential and exceptional rains which poured down on eastern and central Nepal flooded several districts of the capital and caused devastating landslides.
The latest report, still provisional, published Monday by the authorities shows at least 200 dead, 127 injured, 26 missing and considerable damage, particularly on the entire road network which connects Kathmandu to the rest of the small Himalayan country.
“It’s a nightmare,” comments Indra Prasad Timilsina, who earns his living by selling his milk to his neighbors, most of whom come from villages in the high mountains in the hope of finding a better life in the capital.
“I had never experienced such extreme flooding in my entire life,” he confides.
The flow of the Bagmati river, which crosses the Tripureshwor district, has calmed down a little since Friday evening but remains violent. This is where the milkman tied his three cows.
In the long list of everything the flooded river stole from him, there are nine bags of animal meal intended for them. So, even though he still has some cash left, he is concerned.
“If I don’t manage to feed them, they will die,” he worries.
Along with hundreds of other families in the neighborhood, Indra Prasad Timilsina had to wait until the water level dropped on Sunday to return.
“Refugees on our roofs”
They discovered brown mud covering the floors of their homes and much of what was still inside.
Rather than preparing for the biggest Hindu festival of Dashain, scheduled for next week, most are scooping out the murky water with buckets. Others wash their clothes in plenty of water or dry the few seeds or lentils that can still be used.
Computer science teacher in a local school, Shyam Bihari Mishra had the unpleasant surprise of finding his 25 computers submerged in mud. “They are unusable,” he grumbles, “our students will be deprived of education.”
Monsoons from June to September cause death and destruction across South Asia each year. But the number of deadly floods and landslides has increased in recent years.
Scientists say climate change has worsened the frequency and intensity of these weather events.
“This impact is further aggravated by insufficient drainage in neighborhoods born from uncontrolled urbanization, construction in flood-prone areas and the lack of water reservoirs,” notes the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (Icimod).
The approximately 29,000 residents of Kathmandu’s slums know something about this.
“This year alone, we have had to take refuge on our roofs several times,” recalls Bishnu Maya Shrestha, 62, fifteen of whom spent time in the Tripureshwor district.
“But we didn’t expect the water to rise so high,” he adds, “this time it submerged all the houses.” He and his family were only saved by cutting the roof of their house to escape the flood…