Monsoons, flash flooding kills at least 47 in Nepal, dozens missing

Fox News Flash top headlines for July 14

Fox News Flash top headlines for July 14 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com

More than 45 people were killed and dozens are missing or injured after heavy rainfall caused massive flooding and landslides in Nepal over the past few days.

A statement by the Home Ministry said that 47 people have died, while 29 are currently missing following monsoon rainfall that continued to impact the mountainous areas of the country since Thursday. The rainfall has destroyed roads, bridges, flooding homes and submerged large areas of land across the country.

A Nepalese pulls his motorbike and wades past a flooded street in Kathmandu, Nepal on Friday. Heavy rainfall since Thursday night has caused havoc throughout the country. According to the meteorological department, rainfall across the country will likely to continue till Sunday. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Photos showed residents wading through waist-high floodwater, holding their belongings in their hands or above their heads, while television channels showed the roofs of houses completely submerged in the southern plains area of Nepal, according to Reuters.

7.3 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES EASTERN INDONESIA, CAUSES PANIC

More than 1,100 people have been rescued from the floods and over 10,000 are estimated to be displaced, the Associated Press reported.

A Nepalese man wades with his belonging through a flooded street in Kathmandu, Nepal on Friday. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Nine highways remain blocked due to the flooding, including the East-West Highway, a key road that connects Nepal's southern districts. Officials reported the rain in some areas has stopped, but rivers in the eastern part of Nepal still remain flooded.

Other roads are currently being cleared by police and armed soldiers, but bad weather has continued to ground helicopter rescues. Communication towers and phone lines knocked out by the heavy rainfall are also in the process of being restored.

The 450 mile Koshi River, a lifeline for Nepal has continued to remain flooded. To quell the damage, a Nepalese police official, Ishwarei Dahal, says 371,000 cusecs of water have been drained from all 56 of the Koshi River's sluice gates on the Koshi barrage. A cusec is equal to one cubic foot of water per second. That amount would be the highest accumulation in the area in 15 years.

FLOODING GRIPS MOZAMBIQUE IN CYCLONE KENNETH'S WAKE

Nepalese people watch army soldiers rescuing people from their flooded homes in Kathmandu on Friday. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

“Its water level has gone down now,” Dahal told Reuters from the barrage site in south-east Nepal.

In 2008, the Koshi River flooded, breaking its banks and changing its natural flow that locals depended on. The change killed roughly 500 people and impacted over two million in India.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The rainfall is expected to continue and the Nepal capital of Kathmandu is projected to average two inches a day of rainfall over the next seven days, according to AccuWeather.