"We have information that at least 24 have died from floods and landslides since mid-June. Twenty-five people have been killed by lightning in the last 72 hours," home ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey told AFP.

He said hundreds of people have lost their homes in the monsoon, primarily in the low-lying and mid-mountain ranges in the east and center of the kingdom.

Pandey said workers were also trying to clear up the key inter-city roads that have been blocked by landslides.

The national highway connecting the capital Kathmandu with Nepal's second city Pokhara has been disrupted at the point of Krishnabhir, with only one lane open over much of the road.

Nepal is hit hard each year by floods, as monsoon rains combine with the seasonal downpour from the Himalayas. The floodwaters wash down into eastern India and Bangladesh, which are inundated each summer.

However, unlike past years, this summer eastern Nepal has been more affected than the west.

At least 164 people have died and more than 1.5 million displaced across Bangladesh, India and Nepal since the flooding began June 27.

TERRA.WIRE