Pardafas Reporter
Around 1,500 families have been displaced after the flooded Saptakoshi River entered human settlements by breaking the embankment of Dumribot in Belaka Municipality-8 in Udayapur district on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Several settlements in Belaka Municipality of Udayapur district and Barahachhetra Municipality of Sunsari district have been inundated as the Saptakoshi eroded the western embankment and entered the settlement.
The floodwaters entered settlements at wards 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9 of Belaka and wards 6 and 9 of Barahachhetra after the flooded river eroded its western embankment in the Dumribote area.
According to Birendra Kumar Yadav, the Chief District Officer of Udayapur, around 2,500 families have been affected in Belaka and Barahachhetra due to inundation. Yadav said around 1,800 families were rescued by late noon and all the affected families would be rescued and shifted to safer places by the evening.
Personnel from Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Police as well as the local people have been mobilized for the rescue work.
The affected people have been rescued and shifted to safer grounds following the disaster.
The rescued people are sheltered at schools, temples, and other community buildings.
Belaka Municipality Mayor Ashok Karki said almost all the area of ward 3 of Belaka has been inundated while some areas of wards 8 and 9 are also waterlogged.
According to Karki, the river entered the settlements as efforts of all three levels of government for the past two months failed to control the flooded river.
Chief District Officer (CDO) Birendra Kumar Yadav said the whole team of the District Disaster Management has been on the field throughout the day for prompt rescue and relief distribution since the disaster hit.
Rubber boats, local wooden-made boats, tractors, and vehicles of the security bodies have been used for the rescue operation, the CDO said.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Minister of Province 1 Kedar Karki and other ministers have visited the flood-affected region of Belaka. Following the inspection visit, Minister Karki assured that not a single flood victim would go hungry. “The province government is committed to ensuring temporary shelters and food for the flood victims along with the rescue and relief works,” Minister Karki said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Province 1 Rajendra Rai has expressed his concerns after the swelled Saptakoshi entered the human settlement. He said he was sad that many people of Barahakshethar in Sunsari and Belaka in Udaypur were hit hard by the floods.
Several settlements in Saptari’s Saptakoshi and Kanchanrup municipalities will be affected if the water level in the river keeps rising.
Similarly, floods entered the Gobargadha settlement, which lies in ward 13 of Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality in Saptari, leaving the whole settlement at high risk.
