Monsoon Floods and Landslides Kill Dozens Across India and Nepal

At least 62 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, after three days of heavy monsoon rain caused widespread flooding, officials said, while a parallel wave of floods and landslides in neighbouring Nepal killed a further dozen or more people by Sunday, September 27, 2026.²⁷¹

India: rains overwhelm Uttar Pradesh

State officials in Uttar Pradesh, a region with a population exceeding 240 million, reported 66.5mm of precipitation fell between Friday and Sunday morning—far above the typical 7.6mm for that stretch. Relief commissioner Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod confirmed that rainfall totaled 66.5mm over the Friday-to-Sunday-morning period, well beyond the usual 7.6mm. More than 1,000 houses were damaged and 46 people were injured. Authorities shut down schools across several areas, including Lucknow, the state capital, while emergency crews relocated residents out of inundated zones.¹²³⁵

Further east, in Odisha, authorities moved people out of low-lying areas as rivers rose; figures for the evacuation ranged from over 70,000 people according to one account to more than 75,000 according to another. The Devkund tourist spot was shut down as a precaution. Across the country, monitoring officials flagged 30 river-gauge stations spanning seven states as being in critical condition.¹⁵²

Nepal: renewed disaster after August catastrophe

Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported that rain-related incidents killed people across the country since Thursday, though tallies varied between sources, ranging from 12 to 21 dead, with a handful of people missing and injured. Floods and landslides damaged 194 houses, according to one report, while another described complete destruction of 260 homes and partial damage to 80 more, with 247 families affected nationwide. According to Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, who leads the Water Resources and Energy Ministry, the swollen Rahuganga River caused structural damage to a 40-megawatt power plant and knocked down its transmission towers.¹²⁴⁵

Landslides also blocked river flows: one at Chame in Manang obstructed the Marsyangdi River, and another at Nisi in Mustang partially blocked the Kali Gandaki River. In Baglung district, four people died after being buried by a landslide in Nishikhola Village Council. At the base camp of the 7,126-metre Himlung Himal mountain in Manang district, an avalanche buried several local staff, and rescuers later found two of their bodies. Telecommunications were disrupted after damage to optical fibre lines and power supply.¹³⁴

The latest disaster follows a flood in late August that killed more than 1,400 people in Nepal, with nearly 6,000 people left missing according to one account. That earlier flooding, in the Bhotekoshi river system, damaged eight operating hydropower projects and four under construction, and destroyed major road sections and 48 suspension bridges. Officials cautioned that Rasuwa and Nuwakot—the two districts that bore the brunt of August's flooding—needed to stay watchful even though they were not currently classified as high-risk zones.¹²⁵⁴

Weather outlook

This flooding was set off by a low-pressure system that traveled from the Bay of Bengal into the interior, fueling heavier rains throughout the region. Nepali officials cautioned that flash flooding could hit 49 of the nation's 77 districts, meaning over half the country faced elevated flood danger. Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist with Lucknow's Regional Meteorological Centre, predicted the downpours would begin subsiding Monday as the Bay of Bengal system loses power, though he noted scattered light showers might persist in the state's eastern and western regions into Tuesday.¹²³⁷