Torrential rain triggered landslides and caused devastating flooding over the weekend in Nepal. Of the at least 47 people killed during the catastrophic event, an estimated 35 of them died as a result of landslides. Lightning killed three people, and rescue workers were looking for nine people still missing after being swept away by rapidly rising water.
"Rescue efforts for the missing persons are going on," Shanti Mahat, a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority spokesperson in Nepal, told Reuters.
Nearly a foot of rain fell in just 12 hours. Flooding washed away several bridges and blocked roads. The damage wasn't limited to Nepal. Local reports say at least seven people died in landslides caused by heavy rain in Darjeeling, West Bengal, near Nepal's eastern border.
India has offered aid.
"The loss of lives and damage caused by heavy rains in Nepal is distressing. We stand with the people and Government of Nepal in this difficult time," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X. "As a friendly neighbour and first responder, India remains committed to providing any assistance that may be required."
Nepal is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of a warming world. A study published last year in the National Library of Medicine found women are being particularly affected.
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"Inaccessible healthcare facilities during the rainy season increased maternal mortality risks," according to the study. "Heavy river flooding hindered female community health volunteers' access leading to childbirth complications. 82% of women feared being unable to protect their children post-climate events. Moreover, 21% of women faced gender-based violence during or after climate disasters."
The flooding over the weekend came a little more than a year after another devastating deluge struck the same region. Flooding from Sept. 26-28 last year hit Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, especially hard. A total of 244 people were killed in the capital and nearby regions. It was another example of how our warming world is supercharging extreme weather events.
Scientists with World Weather Attribution (WWA) found the fingerprints of an overheating planet on the 2024 extreme flooding event. They concluded that our warming world and rapid urbanization were key drivers of the deadly flood. Researchers also warned that future warming of Earth's atmosphere will make flooding events like these even worse.
"To quantify the role of human-induced climate change we analyse climate models with high resolution that are in principle able to simulate the influence of the mountains on rainfall in the study region," explained WWA researchers.
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They added: "Overall, the available climate models indicate a 10% increase in intensity compared to a 1.3C cooler climate, and an increase in likelihood of about 70%. Under a future warming scenario where the global temperature is 2°C higher than pre-industrial levels, climate models predict even heavier three-day rainfall events, with a further expected increase of about 3% in rainfall intensity."
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