Kathmandu, Aug 21: The Nepalese capital was cut off from the rest of the country after landslides blocked two highways out of the city following five days of incessant rains, officials said today. At least half a dozen landslides blocked the Prithvi highway, which connects Kathmandu with the east, west and south. The Kodari Highway on the north has been blocked for the past few days. Kathmandu is not connected by rail and depends on the highways for food and fuel supplies. Bulldozers were being used to clear debris from the highways, said police stationed at Mugling, 120 kilometers west of the Nepalese capital.


Police said hundreds of people were stranded in vehicles along the highways. Flights took off on schedule as the weather cleared up yesterday and Kathmandu's department of meteorology said the rainfall would recede.


At least a dozen people have been killed this week in landslides bringing this Himalayan country's monsoon death toll to 216, according to the government's natural calamity disaster and management center.

Some 52 people are still missing in 36 of Nepal's 75 districts, where heavy rain has affected more than 5,100 families in mountainous areas over the past two months.

Bureau Report