Rescuers in Nepal searched Tuesday for two dozen people still missing and tried to recover the bodies of those killed in weekend flooding and landslides that left more than 200 dead.
The disaster came just ahead of the country’s biggest festival Dasain, which begins on Thursday, and roads were busier than usual as people returned home to celebrate with loved ones. The damage to roads is likely to hamper travel plans, Associated Press reported.
The deaths climbed to 224 and the injured to 158 while rescue efforts were underway to look for 24 others, said the government’s chief secretary Eak Narayan Aryal on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli’s administration has been heavily criticized for its slow response to the crisis, particularly after a landslide hit several vehicles stranded for hours just 16 kilometers from the capital, Kathmandu, killing about three dozen people.
Oli told reporters the government would continue to look for those missing and help the thousands impacted.
As the weather improved, workers started clearing the highways by the mountains after being blocked by landslides. Sections of several other highways next to raging rivers were washed away and repairing them is expected to require time and effort.
Of the 37 highways damaged, only nine have so far reopened for traffic.
The flooding was caused by heavy rain which arrived at the end of Nepal’s monsoon season that usually begins in June and ends by mid-September. Experts have attributed Nepal’s changing rain pattern to climate change.