Overview
- Heavy downpours over two days produced flash floods and mudslides in the central tea-growing highlands, with officials and media reporting between five and seven deaths and several injured.
- Reports of people displaced and houses damaged vary by outlet, with evacuation figures ranging from about 1,900 to several thousand and damage counts from dozens up to nearly 300 homes.
- Rescue teams from the navy and army have been deployed, relief centres opened and schools in affected districts were closed as crews reached stranded residents and cleared blocked roads.
- Authorities are still reconciling casualty and displacement numbers and say recovery is harder because the same highland areas are still rebuilding after Cyclone Ditwa’s widespread damage last November.
- The storm fits a wider pattern of severe monsoon flooding across South Asia since July, and officials say El Niño-related shifts are making rainfall more erratic and increasing the risk of repeat events.