The floods first devastated Rasuwa district, about 160 km from capital city Kathmandu, after the ice-rock avalanche and debris flow near the Nepal-Tibet border. A torrent of water, mud, rocks and debris tore through settlements including Timure and Rasuwagadhi before surging downstream through the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river system.
A preliminary assessment by Nepalese authorities and a revised analysis by the US Geological Survey (USGS) have identified a glacial collapse and debris flow, rather than an earthquake, as the trigger for the disaster.
The ice-rock avalanche struck the Lhende River, temporarily blocking its flow before the natural barrier gave way and unleashed a massive surge downstream into the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river system.
Nepal’s disaster management authority said a debris-laden flood occurred in the Lhende River following an ice-rock landslide near the Nepal-China border, about 20 km northeast of Rasuwagadhi border city. The same flood subsequently entered the Trishuli river after passing through Timure, it said.
The USGS said its analysis of long-period seismic waves showed that the event initially reported as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake was generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow, rather than an earthquake.
Authorities are still assessing the full extent of the destruction.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah visited Bidur Municipality in Nuwakot on Thursday to inspect areas affected by the flash floods.
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited flood-hit Gyirong Township on Thursday to oversee rescue and relief operations. Chinese state media reported that the People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theatre Command had also sent a directing group to the affected area to coordinate military rescue operations.
Images and videos from the affected areas showed the scale of destruction, with buildings swept away or left standing amid thick deposits of mud and debris, vehicles buried or carried away, roads ripped apart and bridges washed away.
Large stretches of riverbank settlements in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts were covered in mud, rocks and wreckage.
The Department of Roads in Nepal said the entire 42-km road section between Betrawati in Nuwakot and Rasuwagadhi was damaged at multiple points, while several concrete bridges were washed away.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said the floods damaged 35 motorable bridges, 45 suspension bridges and about 40 km of black-topped roads, severely disrupting movement across the affected districts.
The Trishuli and Devighat hydropower projects, along with other power infrastructure, were also damaged.
Efforts were underway to reopen the Galchhi-Baireni road in Dhading, which was blocked after the flash floods in Rasuwa. The route is a key link between Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal and serves as an important transit corridor for heavy and light traffic, including during regional blockades and disaster-response operations.
The destruction has severely complicated rescue operations. Security personnel and local authorities have been scouring riverbanks and downstream areas for survivors and recovering bodies carried by the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers.
Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal on Thursday held telephone conversations with top officials in the US, the UK and several other countries. They expressed solidarity with Nepal and committed to helping the government in its search and rescue works, Khanal’s office said.
Nepal Police said 137 bodies have been recovered from Chitwan, the highest number among the affected districts. Bodies have also been recovered from Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha, Tanahun and Nawalparasi districts.
At least 44 Nepali Army personnel, 28 Nepal Police personnel and 13 Armed Police Force personnel are among those whose whereabouts remain unknown, officials said.
Around 160 people working at hydropower projects and customs offices have also been reported missing.
The search has extended to hospitals, where hundreds of relatives have gathered to look for family members and friends missing since Wednesday.
At Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, authorities posted lists of people brought to the facility so families could check whether their relatives had been rescued or were receiving treatment. Photographs of those who died were also displayed, while desks were set up to record details of people whose whereabouts remained unknown.
The scenes were similar at Bharatpur Hospital in Chitwan, where families searched for relatives as authorities struggled to cope with the growing number of bodies and the mortuary was reportedly running out of space.
Officials rescued 27 foreign tourists stranded in Rasuwa on Thursday, including 11 Indians, four South Koreans, two Italians and two US citizens. The nationalities of the remaining eight had not been confirmed by the Nepal Tourism Board. They were airlifted to Kathmandu by the Nepal Army.
Most of the Indian tourists affected were travelling towards Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet or Gosainkunda in Nepal’s Bagmati Province.
The disaster could rank among Nepal’s deadliest in many years, with rescuers still unable to reach some areas because of damaged roads, washed-away bridges, deep deposits of mud and debris and the continuing risk of further flooding. (PTI)
