TIME – Read More
More than 300 people have been killed and at least 900 are missing after devastating flash floods swept through the Himalayan region along the Nepal-Tibet border, local officials confirmed Thursday.
Severe flooding was reported across the districts of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, and Gorkha, north of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu early Wednesday. Much of the flooding occurred along the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi rivers in the north of the country.
The Nepali tourism board said that, based on records from travel and trekking firms, 644 travelers are still out of contact. More than a hundred of those are Indian nationals who were on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a Nepali tourism official is quoted as telling the Associated Press.
Thursday’s count from the tourism board shows 65 missing travelers are from the U.S., and the State Department said it was aware of the Americans impacted by the floods. Among the others still unaccounted for are foreign nationals from Canada, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, and Singapore.
The U.S. embassy in Nepal issued a warning to U.S. citizens in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha, Chitwan, and Tanahun, urging them to “stay away from riverbanks and low-lying areas, seek higher ground, and follow local instructions.” The embassy added that it was working to account for Americans affected by the flooding.
Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah met with local Members of Parliament (MPs) on Wednesday to discuss issues including flood damage, condition of settlements in local areas, rescue and relief work, his office said.
“The government has intensified the search and rescue operations by deploying security forces in the flood-affected areas,” Shah’s office added.
What do we know about the floods?
It remains unclear what caused the floods, but Nepal is highly vulnerable to the climate crisis.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported initial shaking as an earthquake, though it later determined that the tremors were caused by “a glacial collapse and debris flow that caused subsequent catastrophic impacts downstream.” That event generated seismic energy equivalent to a 5.2-magnitude quake.
The Kathmandu Post reported, citing the country’s national disaster authority, that an initial analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs indicated that an avalanche of ice and rock triggered the flood in the Lhende River, about 20 km (12 mi) north-east of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between China and Nepal.
Nepal has thousands of glaciers, but with the Himalayan region warming, many of them are melting.
How Nepal is responding to the crisis
Data from the disaster risk reduction agency also showed that of the more than 900 missing, 28 are Nepali police, 44 are from the Nepali Army, and 13 are from its specialized paramilitary Armed Police Force.
Nepali Police published details of 66 people hospitalized due to injuries from the flooding, most of whom are from the Nuwakot and Rasuwa regions.
Video shared by police showed catastrophic flooding, with entire buildings swept away in the powerful currents. Other footage shared shows a bridge and multiple buildings on the banks of the Trishuli River destroyed in the flooding. Officials have since confirmed that 32 bridges and nearly 40 km of road were swept away.
Police also issued a warning that they expect the flooding to continue down the Bhotekoshi River into the regions of Dhading and Muglin in the center of the country.
The Prithvi Highway, one of Nepal’s busiest roads that connects Kathmandu to the second-largest city, Pokhara, passes through these regions along the Trishuli River. Police confirmed Wednesday this section of the highway would be closed.
The flooding has also resulted in widespread casualties at the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet region. A mudslide occurred near the Gyirong checkpoint on the border, resulting in at least three deaths and more than 550 people missing in Gyirong County, according to Chinese state media.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out efforts” for search and rescue operations in response to the mudslide, as well as calling for the strengthening of “monitoring and early warning, ensure scientific rescue operations and guard against secondary disasters,” Chinese media reported.
Footage from the checkpoint shows water engulfing buildings as people flee the oncoming currents. TIME has been unable to independently verify the footage.
