148 dead in Nepal floods

KATHMANDU — Residents of Nepal's flood-hit capital returned to their mud-caked homes on Sunday to survey the wreckage of devastating floods that have killed at least 148 people across the country.

Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.

Entire neighborhoods in Kathmandu were inundated over the weekend with flash floods reported in rivers coursing through the capital and extensive damage to highways.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 148 people had been killed across the country with another 59 still missing.

Home Ministry spokesman Rishiram Tiwari told Agence France-Presse that bulldozers were being used to clear several highways that had been blocked by debris, cutting Kathmandu off from the rest of the country.

"More than 3,000 people have been rescued," he added.

The valley in which the capital sits recorded 240 millimeters of rain in the 24 hours up to Saturday morning, the country's weather bureau told the Kathmandu Post.

It was the highest rainfall recorded in the capital since at least 1970, the report said.

Monsoon rains from June to September bring widespread death and destruction every year across South Asia, but the number of fatal floods and landslides has increased in recent years.

Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity.

More than 260 people have died in Nepal in rain-related disasters this year.

Agencies via Xinhua