Ololade Adeyanju/
At least 22 people have been killed and nearly 400 remain missing after a devastating flash flood swept through Nepal’s Rasuwa district along the Tibet border, destroying homes, roads, bridges and major infrastructure.
The death toll has continued to rise as rescue teams reach areas cut off by the floodwaters, with 88 people rescued so far.
Authorities have warned that the casualty figure could increase further as search operations continue in some of the worst-hit areas.
The disaster struck on Wednesday after a sudden surge in the Bhote Koshi river swept through settlements around Timure and Syapru Besi in Rasuwa. Entire riverside communities were inundated, with houses, vehicles, roads and bridges either swept away or buried beneath mud and debris.
The destruction extended to key infrastructure, including the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadhi, while several police facilities were damaged.
Nepal’s Energy Ministry said about 430 megawatts of electricity supply, mostly from hydropower projects, had been affected — more than 12 per cent of the country’s installed hydropower capacity.
The human toll remains particularly uncertain because nearly 400 people are still unaccounted for.
A preliminary list compiled by the Nepal Tourism Board includes 384 travellers, among them 291 foreign nationals and 93 Nepali citizens. At least 105 Indians are among those reported missing.
The missing include tourists and pilgrims travelling towards Tibet, as well as workers and security personnel in the affected areas.
Rescue efforts have been severely hampered by the terrain, damaged roads and continuing high water levels. Military helicopters sent to evacuate people were initially unable to land in some of the worst-hit locations.
The devastation is also being felt across the border in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, where a mudslide struck the Gyirong area and affected roads, communications and power links.
Chinese authorities have reported casualties and missing people and ordered intensified search operations.
CCTV footage from Gyirong shows the terrifying force of the disaster, with a wall of mud and water surging through a valley as people flee and buildings are overwhelmed within seconds.
Images from Nepal show submerged homes, vehicles carried away by floodwaters and extensive fields of mud and debris where settlements once stood.
The cause of the sudden flooding is still being investigated. Nepalese officials have indicated that an earthquake may have triggered an ice-rock avalanche, blocking a river before a sudden release of water caused the destructive surge downstream.
With hundreds still missing, rescue operations ongoing and access to some affected communities severely restricted, the full scale of the deaths and destruction is yet to be established.
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