Adverse weather conditions affected rescue and relief works in the floods and landslides affected areas in eastern Nepal on Monday. Rainfall continued throughout the day, hampering efforts to search for the missing and rescue those trapped in the disasters.

According to government authorities, as many as 27 people are still missing in separate disasters triggered by heavy monsoon rains in Sankhuwasabha, Panchthar and Taplejung districts on Saturday night.

Security personnel rescued 12 victims while the death toll caused by the monsoon mayhem in the eastern hill districts of Koshi Province reached eight on Monday. One dead body remains unidentified.

According to the District Police Office in Sankhuwasabha, a joint group of 250 security personnel of the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have been mobilised to find 18 workers from Super Hewa Hydropower Project. “The rescuers have been facing difficulties due to continuous rains and disruption of rural roads in the affected area,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Birendra Godar said.

Security personnel, people’s representatives, relatives of the missing victims and the locals searched for the missing the whole day on Monday but could not trace them. A body, according to police, was recovered on the banks of the Hewakhola stream but the identity of the body is yet to be ascertained.

A man died in the floods while altogether 21 people went missing in separate incidents of floods in Sankhuwasabha. Eighteen people working at the six-megawatt hydropower project went missing as the flooded stream buried the project site.

In Taplejung, Keshar Kumar Rai and his son Suresh Rai died as a landslide struck them near their residence at Mehele village of Sidingwa Rural Municipality-6. Ganesh Tamang from the same village died in a landslide on Saturday night. Another local, Raj Kumar Rai, sustained injuries in Monday’s landslide. A Nepal Army helicopter medevaced him to Biratnagar, the provincial headquarters of Koshi.

Sidingwa Rural Municipality has been hit the hardest by rain-induced disasters. The whereabouts of three victims who went missing in a landslide in Sidingwa-6 on Saturday night are still unknown. According to Chief District Officer of Taplejung Goma Dev Chemjong, the floods and landslides incurred damage in Maiwakhola, Pathibhara and Yangbarak rural municipalities as well.

Ratna Lingden, the ward chief of Sidingwa-6, said around 400 of the ward’s total 500 households are at risk of landslides. “I urged them to stay in Nilgiri Secondary School and Devithandanda as they are relatively safer,” Lingden said. He expressed his dissatisfaction as the government has not provided relief materials such as tents, food and blankets to the displaced people. “Roads are disrupted and we can’t seek help from anyone else,” he added. “The government should make arrangements to provide the victims with basic necessities at least.”

The meeting of the district natural disaster management committee held on Sunday decided to request the local units to provide relief materials in the disaster-affected areas. “We would certainly help our people but the rural roads and foot trails have been disrupted since it has been continuously raining in the area,” said Man Bahadur Rai, chairman of Sidingwa Rural Municipality. “We don’t have a helicopter. How can we reach the victims in this situation?”

In Taplejung, the disasters damaged three motorable bridges, five suspension bridges, two hydropower projects and eight public buildings, including Mehele Health Post.

Scores of people have been displaced in the district. Danish Gurung and his wife have been staying in a cave with their two-and-half-year-old daughter in Surumkhim of Sidingwa-7 for the past few days as a landslide at Gagre put an animal shed they were staying at high risk. According to Chetmaya, Danish’s mother, their rescue was not possible as the flooded Tawakhola swept away a suspension bridge and it has been continuously raining in the area since Saturday.

Panchthar is also witnessing continuous rainfall since Saturday. On Monday, heavy rains lashed Phidim Municipality, Hilihang Rural Municipality, Yangwarak Rural Municipality, and Phalelung Rural Municipality. Thirty-five houses have been affected in these four local units while the number of displaced families has been increasing every day, according to the District Police Office, Panchthar.

On Monday afternoon, the Panchthar-Terhathum road section of the Mid-Hill Highway was blocked due to a landslide caused by continued rainfall. Earlier on Sunday morning, rainfall destroyed the Hewa bridge on the Mechi Highway and a Bailey bridge on the Tamor corridor, completely disconnecting three local units—Hilihang Rural Municipality, Yangwarak Rural Municipality, and Phalelung Rural Municipality—from roads. The road connection between Taplejung and Panchthar has also been disrupted due to the collapse of the Hewa bridge.

According to Mekh Bahadur Magrati, chief district officer of Panchthar district, 12 people who were trapped in their houses in Phedi, Yangwarak-1 due to floods and landslides were rescued in a helicopter by the Nepali army on Monday morning.

Currently, the rescued people are taking shelter at the Bishnu Secondary School in Chyangthapu, Yangwarak-1.

Magrati said that the basic and daily necessities of the rescued and other victims have been arranged in coordination with the local level and the district disaster management committee. Three people have lost their lives in Panchthar since Saturday, according to him. The deceased were from Hilihang-7, Phidim-10, and Phalelung-3. Three people are still missing while one injured is receiving treatment at the district hospital, Magrati said.

According to the District Administration Office, Panchthar, around 15 small and big bridges have been destroyed due to landslides and floods. More than 50 cattle have died. Several farmers’ land and crops near the banks of the river have also been swept away.

DSP Hari Khatiwada of the District Police Office said that floods and landslides have blocked and damaged several roads connecting the local units to the district headquarters in Phidim, making the search, rescue, and relief operations challenging.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who reached the flood-affected areas on Monday, said that relief and rescue work would be carried out as quickly as possible. He assured rehabilitation of the displaced and prioritisation of the construction of Bailey bridges in areas where bridges have been washed away by floods.

Dahal has also directed all the government agencies of the district to join the rescue, relief, and search operations for the missing persons. Along with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala, and Urban Development Minister Sita Gurung, people's representatives of the affected areas Yogesh Bhattarai, Basant Nemwang, Deepak Khadka, and Koshi provincial assembly member Rajendra Karki visited the affected districts on Monday.