South Asia Monsoon Floods Kill 19 People, Forces Thousands to Evacuate

South Asia monsoon floods have killed a total of at least 19 people, including 14 in Nepal and four in India, and forced thousands of people to evacuate.

Landslides and flash flooding because of torrential rain are the main causes of deaths amid the natural disaster, which was a result of a week-long rainfall event, according to reports.

The South Asia monsoon typically occurs between June and September each year, causing heavy rain and flooding that often leads to flooding and landslides. While being vital to the agricultural industry, the weather phenomenon has caused dangerous and life-threatening repercussions, as seen in previous events.

Scientists blame climate change and global warming for the intensification of the monsoon, which is apparently increasing in frequency and severity in South Asia. Unlike storms and other weather systems, the monsoon weather event can carry a lot of precipitation, which can result in above-average rainfall that can span for days or even weeks.

South Asia Monsoon Floods

(Photo : Image by Joseph Thomas from Pixabay)

The South Asia monsoon has affected multiple countries across the region over the past week, which also led to the issuance of weather alerts. Evacuation alerts remain in effect as the threat may continue over the weekend.

In Nepal, the number of deaths from raging floodwaters and mudslides since last weekend has spiked to 14 as of Friday, June 23, with over two dozen others still missing, according to local officials, as cited by Phys.org from AFP news.

Dhruba Bahadur Khadka, a spokesman for the country's national disaster authority, told the news outlet on Friday that authorities are still conducting search and rescue operations on the ground. This is based on the possibility that survivors are still in the affected areas.

In India, disaster response authorities stated four people were killed from related events in a remote area in the Arunachal Pradesh state bordering China.

In Bangladesh, an alert was issued after forecasters issued a warning of potential floods in the country's northern districts bordering India.

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Widespread Evacuations

Many people have been displaced in India amid the Asian monsoon. Tens of thousands of people evacuated and sought shelter in government-run relief camps as the moon battered villages in northeast India, according to a government relief agency on Friday, as cited by ABC News.

Almost 14,000 people are staying in 83 camps managed by the Assam state government. The said Indian state saw nearly 500,000 people being affected by the monsoon floods.

The scene resembles the catastrophic event in the region last year, wherein floods in India and Bangladesh killed over a dozen people and left millions of people homeless, according to the media outlet.

In 2022, Pakistan also saw extreme flooding caused by unprecedented monsoon rains from June to August with more than a thousand dead and approximately over 33 million people to be affected, the International Federation of Red Cross reported.