Uttar Pradesh Stays Vigilant as Nepal’s Gorkha District Battles Flash Floods

When news broke early Sunday that a sudden landslide had smashed a natural dam in Nepal’s Gorkha district, the first thing the administration in Uttar Pradesh did was start a phone‑call chain with their neighbours across the border.

District Magistrate Gaurav Singh Sogarwal, speaking to ANI, assured the public that, for now, there was nothing to panic about. “River water levels in Nepal are well below the normal peak,” he said, adding that the flow at the Valmiki Barrage in our state was holding steady at about 50,000‑60,000 cusecs – a perfectly ordinary range.

That said, Sogarwal stressed the team is keeping a close eye on the numbers. “We are monitoring the rivers hour by hour, and if any abnormal rise is detected, we will activate our standard operating procedures without delay,” he explained.

The flash flood in Gorkha was caused by the collapse of a natural dam on the Siyar River – a tributary of the Budhi Gandaki. When the dam gave way, a wall of water surged downstream, flooding tributaries of the Narayani River. Because Maharajganj sits right at the entry point of the Narayani, the district has a painful memory of the 2020 flood that inundated parts of the area.

“We remain constantly vigilant because the same river network carries water from Nepal into our territory,” Sogarwal added, recalling the earlier disaster that affected both Maharajganj and neighboring Kushinagar.

On the Nepal side, the situation looks grim. At least ten people are still missing, officials say, and six bridges – two motorable and four suspension – have been swept away along the Budhi Gandaki basin. Assistant Chief District Officer Netra Prasad Sharma listed the destroyed crossings: motorable bridges at Arughat, Tripurasundari and Soti‑Manbu, a Bailey bridge in Dharche Rural Municipality, plus several footbridges linking small villages.

Despite the dramatic images from across the border, Uttar Pradesh’s disaster teams are prepared. They stay in touch with Nepal’s relief offices, ready to dispatch help if the water decides to rise faster than expected. For the moment, however, the rivers are calm, and the people of Maharajganj can go about their day without fear of a sudden surge.