At least eight people have died and 384 tourists, including 12 from the UK, are missing after flash floods triggered by an ice and rock avalanche swept through parts of Nepal on Wednesday, officials said.
The Bhotekoshi River flooded around 9am local time on August 26, destroying several villages as well as roads and hydropower projects. Officials issued warnings to residents of several districts, asking them to stay away from the banks of the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers.
Tourists unaccounted for
Among the 384 missing tourists, 291 are from countries including India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Malaysia, according to preliminary reports. At least 12 of those are believed to be UK nationals.
Sasmit Pokharel, a spokesperson for the Nepali government, said: "We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts."
Rasuwa district hit hardest
The worst affected area, Rasuwa district, experienced similar flash floods in August last year, when a glacial lake in neighboring Tibet overflowed due to high temperatures. That event killed nine people and damaged critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting the two countries.
Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday's flood. The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, saw maximum flooding.
"The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in fourteen months, this time triggered by an ice rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream," said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the research group. "In a warming Himalaya, early warning is the first line of adaptation," he added.
Climate vulnerability
The Himalayan region, spanning Nepal and several neighboring countries including India, is especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because it is warming faster than the rest of the world due to human-caused climate change. Research has shown that extreme weather events, including heat waves, heavy rains and melting glaciers, have become more frequent in the region.
Researchers at the Kathmandu group found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000, primarily due to rising global temperatures and climate change.
