Nepal-Tibet flood leaves trail of destruction in Nepali town

Rescue workers recovered bodies from thick mud while desperate families waited for news of missing relatives in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on Thursday (August 27), a day after a catastrophic flash flood struck the Himalayan region, leaving a trail of death and destruction across the valley.

Helicopters airlifted rescued children to safety as emergency responders with search dogs picked through debris-laden streets, where vehicles and buildings lay partially submerged under mud. Panicked residents fled after rumours spread that river levels were rising again, while others waded through thick sludge to salvage belongings from their homes.

More than 1,000 people remained missing in the Himalayan country and neighboring China after a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river, triggering a deadly flood.

Police said they expected the death toll to rise beyond 270, with dozens of bodies swept down into the plains from where they were being recovered.

The deadly flash flood near Nepal's border with Tibet on Wednesday may have been triggered when the lower part of a glacier broke off and crashed on to the valley floor hundreds of meters below, experts said citing satellite imagery from Planet Labs.

While the exact cause of Wednesday's disaster is still being analysed, scientists say it probably began with a massive ice-rock avalanche on the northern slopes of Nepal's Langtang Lirung peak into the Lhende Khola river on the Tibetan side.

At least six major hydropower plants and infrastructure at the Gyirong Port trade hub were damaged in a multi-stage hazard chain across borders triggered by the initial collapse. It also altered river channels more than 100 km (62 miles) downstream, near the Indian border. — Report from Reuters

(Camera: Yubaraj Sharma; Writing, Editing and Production: Jacinta Goh, Criselda Caringal, Feline Lim )

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