Nepal flood turns riverside towns into mud plains after glacial lake collapse
DHUNGE, Nepal — A glacial lake collapse in northern Nepal unleashed a torrent of water and mud on Wednesday, tearing through riverside towns, sweeping away
DHUNGE, Nepal — A glacial lake collapse in northern Nepal unleashed a torrent of water and mud on Wednesday, tearing through riverside towns, sweeping away bridges and leaving stretches of the Trishuli River valley looking like a wasteland. By Sunday, families were still searching hospitals and official lists for missing relatives as the death toll across Nepal and Tibet climbed and hundreds remained unaccounted for.
In Dhunge, in Nepal’s devastated Nuwakot district, 68-year-old KP Bharaisain watched from a hillside as the surge hit with the force of a jet engine, he said. The water rose fast. It bounced, he said, “like a football.”
Then it was gone. Not really gone — just moving downstream.
Water, mud and vanished streets
Bharaisain said the river kept climbing for about 15 minutes after the first surge before receding. Within half an hour, the main street of Dhunge and the Trishuli River had become one and the same. Homes and shops were buried or cut through by new banks of mud. Two bridges disappeared along with people who were standing on them.
The disaster began when a glacial lake about 50 kilometres north of Dhunge collapsed, sending a rapid wall of water through the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river system. The surge hit about 9.30 a.m. on Wednesday and moved far beyond the first impact zone, with deaths reported in seven districts and floodwaters reaching Chitwan, near the Indian border, more than 160 kilometres south.
For those in the path, the speed was the shock. The scale was worse.
Families search for the missing
At Bir Hospital in Kathmandu on Thursday, anxious relatives crowded corridors and checked lists, hoping for news. Subash Khatani was there looking for his elder brother, Ram Sharan Rasaili, who went missing in Rasuwa, one of the first districts hit.
“My elder brother Ram Sharan Rasaili is among those missing in Rasuwa. That’s why we are out searching for him,” Khatani told AFP.
Nepali police said they had recovered 162 bodies. Across Nepal and Tibet, the confirmed death toll was later updated to 750, with 3,044 people missing, according to figures cited by the family of Australian survivor Cara Severino. The Red Cross estimated that more than 90,000 people were likely affected.
Australia among those caught up
The disaster also swept up foreign nationals. On Sunday, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said 42 Australians were missing in the floods, including six on the Chinese side of the border. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said families were going through an “extremely anxious time” and were desperate for news.
Cara Severino, 26, who had been listed as missing, survived and her family called it a “miracle.” The Australian government said it would deploy an additional $3 million in humanitarian assistance.
Back in Dhunge, the river keeps moving. So do the searches. And in towns carved open by the flood, residents are left waiting for the next list, the next name, the next sign that someone made it out alive.
