Too much rain

flooding in the Valley

It began to rain on Thursday, late in the day. I went to sleep with the sound, woke up to it. It ranged from heavy to light, but it did not stop. Not until Saturday afternoon, nearly 48 hours after it began. It was the highest recorded rainfall in the Kathmandu Valley over a 24 hour period since the country began keeping a record in 1970.

Rivers overflowed, destroying homes built along them. Landslides took out more, and vehicles, too. To date, 228 people have lost their lives.

South of the river, Lalitpur seems to have been harder hit than the Kathmandu side; I think we are at a slightly higher elevation here.

Bridges have been washed out, including the one connecting us to our northern neighbour, and most if not all roads in and out of the Valley are blocked or damaged in one way or another. Helicopters are ferrying people from some trekking areas to Kathmandu when there’s no other way to get them back.

The festive season of Dasain is just days away, a time when between one to two million people who now live in the capital return to their homes and families throughout the length and breadth of Nepal. Air and bus tickets are booked out weeks in advance. Nobody’s quite sure what is going to happen now.

We’re also entering peak trekking season, which is bound to be impacted, just one of the reasons people are already talking about effects on the economy.

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I thought I’d written the last weather-related post for a while: monsoon, though it often lingers into September, doesn’t usually stick around this long. This year, it seemed to be over.

Now, we’re not so sure. It’s been dry since but the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) issued an alert of heavy rainfall from today till Saturday.

In my first draft, written just a few hours ago, I ended with There’s no rain as I post this; here’s hoping it stays that way.

It’s 11 pm now and it’s just started to rain.

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Note: Thank you for the messages to check that I was safe, I appreciate it ❤️ This post has more links than usual, for anyone who may want additional detail from local sources. Above, an outcropping of a neighbour’s roof shelters crows on Friday.