Lalitpur, July 9 -- On the evening of May 29, Suman Bajracharya, 27, was inside his handicraft shop in Kwalkhu when it started pouring. In no time the narrow asphalted road outside his shop got flooded with knee-deep water. Bajracharya realised the sewage drains were blocked, and soon, the water started gushing into his shop, he says. His scooter was swept away, some 100 metres from his shop.

Four other motorcycles parked in the Kwalkhu area were swept away that day.

"My neighbours helped save my scooter. We held onto it and managed to tie it to an electric pole with a rope," said Bajracharya.

For over a decade now, every monsoon hundreds of people living in Lalitpur have been suffering from inundation. And with the monsoon here, local...