At least 19 people have died after massive flooding and a torrent of mud and debris swept through areas near Nepal’s border with Tibet on Wednesday, while hundreds of tourists remained unaccounted for.
Nepalese police said 384 tourists, including 291 foreigners, had not been located more than eight hours after the disaster struck. The Nepal Tourism Board said Americans, Indians, an Australian, Malaysians and Britons were among those missing.
The flooding occurred after debris surged through a river, burying buildings and sweeping away homes. Authorities launched a major search-and-rescue operation as emergency teams assessed the extent of the destruction.
The Nepal Army deployed helicopters and disaster response personnel to the affected area, while several highways were closed because of the dangerous conditions.
A local resident, 56-year-old Raju Bhadel, described the devastation after receiving a call from a family member.
He said three relatives had been rescued after their home was swept away, but another family member remained missing.
China orders rescue effort
The disaster also affected the area around the Gyirong Port on the Chinese side of the Nepal-Tibet border.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported “major casualties” and missing people following a mudslide, prompting President Xi Jinping to order an “all-out” rescue effort.
Xi said the priority was to search for missing people, treat those who had been injured and minimise casualties.
Footage broadcast by Chinese state media showed floodwater carrying branches and debris through the affected area, although the images could not immediately be independently verified.
Authorities in Tibet’s Shigatse warned that roads were at risk of mudslides and were unsafe for travel.
Hydropower infrastructure damaged
The disaster has also caused significant damage to Nepal’s electricity infrastructure.
The Nepal Electricity Authority said around 430 megawatts of generation capacity, including hydropower and solar facilities, had been damaged.
The authority said damage to production, transmission and distribution infrastructure had disrupted electricity supplies.
Sarthak Shrestha, a remote sensing and geo-information analyst at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), said a preliminary assessment found no anomalies on the Chinese side of the border.
He said researchers believed a rock-ice avalanche had occurred in Nepal, blocking the Lhende River and triggering the cascading flood.
Warning of further flooding
Authorities remain concerned that the danger may not be over.
Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at ICIMOD, warned that another flood could occur because a blockage remains upstream on the river along the Nepal-China border.
Monsoon rains between June and September regularly cause deadly flooding and landslides across South Asia.
Scientists have also warned that climate change is contributing to more frequent and intense extreme weather events in the region, increasing risks for communities living in vulnerable mountainous areas.
With hundreds of people still unaccounted for, rescue teams continue to search through flooded and debris-covered areas as authorities assess the full scale of the disaster.