Nepal Unveils Flood Preparedness Plan After Deadly August Floods

Kathmandu, October 25: Nepal's government has unveiled a comprehensive flood preparedness plan in the wake of the deadly August disaster. The plan focuses on early warning infrastructure, glacial lake risk reduction and technology-driven forecasting.

The August 26 floods killed around 1,500 people, and over 5,000 remain missing. The government's preliminary Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) report puts the property losses at roughly 1.81 billion dollars.

The Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river basins saw severe destruction of hydropower facilities, solar energy plants, power transmission networks and transport infrastructure. The energy sector, particularly hydropower projects, was among the most affected.

A key component of the plan is the Priority River Basin Flood Risk Management Project, which will run from 2022 to 2028. Under this project, flood early warning systems will be established in six river basins, including Mawa-Ratuwa, Bakraha, Lakhandehi, East Rapti, West Rapti and Mohana-Khutiya. The project will cost 75.4 lakh dollars.

The government has also committed to providing 24-hour flood forecasting and warning services each year from mid-May to mid-October, which is the core monsoon season in the country.

With Himalayan glaciers melting faster due to rising temperatures, the risks posed by glacial lakes, avalanches and downstream flooding have grown. To tackle this, Nepal will implement the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) Sanjeevani Project. It will lower the water levels of four high-risk lakes: Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho and Hongu-2.

The GLOF project is scheduled to run from 2026 to 2033 and is estimated to cost 4.99 crore dollars. Nepal has already reduced the water levels of Tso Rolpa and Imja lakes to limit the threat of glacial lake burst floods.

In addition, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology is preparing to adopt artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-performance computing to make weather and flood forecasts more accurate and reliable.