Flood washes away diversion, disrupts BP Highway for eight hours

KATHMANDU: Continuous rainfall on Monday night triggered a flood in the Roshi River, sweeping away a diversion at Mapti along the BP Highway and causing an eight-hour traffic disruption.

According to the District Police Office, efforts to reopen the highway have been ongoing since the early hours of Tuesday.

The flood inflicted additional damage to the road section near Mangaltar in Roshi Rural Municipality–12, making immediate restoration difficult, said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Min Bahadur Ghale, the office’s information officer.

The affected section had previously been washed away by flooding in October last year.

A temporary diversion had since been in place, which was destroyed in last night’s flood. Police, in coordination with locals, are currently working to resume at least one-way traffic through the area.

During the incident, police rescued 17 stranded passengers from the highway.

Meanwhile, the search continues for a 33-year-old woman, Renuka Giri of Subbagau, Panauti Municipality–5, who went missing in a flash flood triggered by the same rainfall.

She was swept away by the swollen Dhalmale River around 6:00 PM on Monday while returning from a fair.

Despite overnight efforts by locals and police, Giri could not be located. The search operation resumed Tuesday morning with the deployment of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Army personnel, according to DSP Ghale.

The torrential rainfall also flooded several areas near the Panauti bus park and damaged potato fields as floodwaters entered farmlands.