At least 95 people have died and hundreds are missing after flash floods hit the Himalayan border areas of Nepal and Tibet in China, with officials saying areas of India were also at risk.
The disaster was caused by a torrent of mud, water and debris that burst from the banks of a river that runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties”.
Tourists and security personnel unaccounted for
Authorities issued alerts urging residents in several districts to keep away from the Bhote Koshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers in Nepal.
Officials said 384 tourists, including 291 from countries including India, the US, the UK and Malaysia, had been reported missing. Nepal said 44 army personnel and 30 police officers had also been reported missing. At least one Australian was listed as missing by the Nepal tourism board. The person was travelling in a group run by Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travels, the board said.
Nepal tourism board officials said most of the missing were likely to be tourists from India and the Indian diaspora on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus.
Cause and ongoing risk
The flash floods are thought to have been triggered by an ice-rock avalanche from a glacier, that caused a sudden downstream surge on the Lhende Khola river, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi. Officials said the flooding could get worse because the river remained blocked upstream.
Flood alerts were also issued in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which border Nepal and are downstream of the affected rivers.
Police in Nepal said they were still unable to assess the full scale of the damage. Rescuers said helicopters could not land in affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa until the river waters had receded.
Devastation and response
Images of crumbled homes in the flood waters, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away, and villages engulfed by water, mud and debris were broadcast on Nepalese television.
“There could be heavy casualties or loss of property,” said the district administrator, Narendra Pariyar, who urged those living on the banks of the Bhote Koshi to move to higher ground.
“There is devastation everywhere we look,” Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa, told Reuters. “The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing.”
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the flash flood occurred on the Nepalese side of the border and cut roads, communications and power links in the Shigatse region.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, urged “all-out” search efforts for the missing and better monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.
Nepal’s energy ministry said electricity supplies had been significantly affected, mostly as a result of destroyed hydroelectric plants.
Police and military officers joined in Nepal’s rescue effort, the country’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, said. “Instructions have been given … to move the people living in the lower areas to safer places. People along the river are advised to exercise extra caution and remain alert.”
A Bhote Koshi flood last year killed nine people and washed away a “friendship bridge” linking Nepal and China, disrupting trade and transport for months. It was triggered by the draining of a supraglacial lake in Tibet, a regional climate monitor said.
The Himalayan region, which spans Nepal, India, China and Bhutan, is particularly vulnerable to floods and landslides because it is warming faster than the rest of the world as a result of the climate crisis. Research shows that extreme weather events such as heatwaves and torrential rains have become more frequent.
Researchers in Kathmandu also found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush region were melting at an accelerating rate. Ice loss rates have doubled since 2000.
