Nepal flood losses estimated at $2.56bn: Official

Property, housing and infrastructure worth at least 387.5 billion ​Nepalese rupees ($2.56 billion) was lost in Nepal's catastrophic floods last ‌week, the country's disaster authority chief told Reuters on Friday. In the first four months of early recovery, ​the estimated cost to build roads ​and temporary shelters, provide drinking water and ⁠restore power would be around $52.6 million, ​Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of the National Disaster ​Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said. "These are estimated amounts. We have calculated this in coordination with different ​concerned agencies and departments," Upreti said, adding ​that a detailed assessment would be done soon. Nepal will ‌need ⁠to rebuild around 20,000 houses in flood-ravaged areas, Upreti said on Thursday, with at least 7,500 of those homes destroyed. The collapse of ​a glacier sent ​a ⁠flood of ice, rock and mud down the Trishuli River in ​Nepal's border region with China on ​August ⁠26, wiping out towns and villages and killing more than 1,250 people, with more than ⁠4,200 ​still missing and thousands displaced.