Authorities to distribute solar power banks in Nepal's flood-hit regions

KATHMANDU: Nepalese authorities on Thursday arranged alternative power sources for flood-hit areas of the Himalayan nation, where supply has been disrupted following extensive damage to power projects.

Flash floods on the Bhotekoshi River along Nepal's border with the Tibet region wreaked havoc across three districts of the country on Wednesday, leaving 177 people and over 826 others, including more than 300 Indian tourists, missing.

The Ministry of Energy and Water Resources mobilised mechanisms to arrange alternative power supplies in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading, according to Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha's secretariat.

Floods damaged 12 hydropower projects, halting 431.1 megawatts of electricity generation, it said.

In coordination with the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, the ministry is sending 500 solar power banks to the affected areas on Thursday, said Shrestha's aide Sanjeev Maharjan.

The ministry handed over 300 solar power banks to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority for distribution to the flood-affected areas.

He said immediate restoration of electricity in Rasuwa was not possible as the flood washed away a substation. "We have already dispatched 300 units of power banks and another 200 are on the way so that people can use them as an alternative source of lighting and to charge mobile phones," he said.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) restored electricity supply to various parts of Nuwakot through alternative transmission arrangements, The Rising Nepal newspaper reported.

The NEA said the restoration took place through an alternative line from Sindhupalchok.

Quoting NEA spokesperson Rajan Dhakal, the newspaper said preparations are underway to bring other lines into operation after completing the necessary technical work, and efforts are being made to resume electricity service by the evening.

The flash floods were caused when an avalanche blocked the flow of the Lhende tributary of the Bhotekoshi and hit Timure, near Nepal’s border with China at Rasuwagadhi.

Authorities in Nepal are racing against time to find hundreds of missing people, in one of the country’s worst disasters in recent years.

China's state-run media, meanwhile, said that three people were killed and as many as 588 are reportedly missing in the Tibet autonomous region.