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At least 160 killed, hundreds missing, as flash flood hits Nepal and Tibet
At least 160 people have been killed and hundreds are missing after a huge flash flood swept away villages in Nepal, damaging roads, bridges and power projects in areas near Tibet, authorities said.
Nepali police said late on Wednesday that they had recovered 157 bodies and that officers were continuing to try to move people away from risk areas.
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Officials said at least 384 tourists were reported missing as a result of the flash flood, including 291 foreign nationals, among them tourists from the United Kingdom, the United States, India and Malaysia.
Police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle said that 28 police personnel were also missing.
Chinese authorities said at least three people had died and 265 others remained missing on their side of the border in Tibet’s county of Gyirong.
State broadcaster CCTV said that specific casualty figures were still being verified.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah urged the Himalayan nation to stand united following the disaster.
“Please be patient. The government takes full responsibility for your rescue, treatment, food and shelter. In times of such a disaster, we all need to stand together,” Shah said in a statement shared on social media.
The waters were too high for helicopters to land in Nepal’s affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000, officials said.
District administrator Narendra Pariyar urged those living on the banks of the Bhote Koshi River in the area to seek higher ground, pointing to reports that nearby villages and infrastructure project sites were washed away.
“We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts,” said Sasmit Pokharel, a Nepali government spokesperson.
Across the border, Tibet reported “major casualties” with people missing in the neighbouring county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a land crossing between China and Nepal, the Xinhua official news agency said.
The mudslide hit China’s Gyirong port, cutting off roads, communications and power in the Shigatse region, Xinhua added, without giving details.
President Xi Jinping urged “all-out” efforts to search for the missing, and called for strengthening monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.
Prayash Adhikari, a climate justice activist in Nepal, said the “devastating” flood wiped out “whole villages”.
“Hundreds of people are missing,” Adhikari told Al Jazeera from Kathmandu, stating it wiped out buildings, schools, bridges and highways.
Meanwhile, an Indian official announced that India’s Bihar state had begun evacuating people from six districts as they feared the floods would reach those areas.
Torrents of muddy water
Videos shared by Nepal Police and others on social media showed torrents of muddy water crashing through mountain valleys.
Many people were caught off guard when the flash flood hit, as there was no heavy rainfall, said Kosh Raj Koirala, an editor of Republica Daily, an English newspaper in Nepal’s capital.
“[People] were at home … several houses have been washed away, swept away by the river,” Koirala told Al Jazeera.
Shah convened an emergency meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority to take stock of the situation.
“Work has started to take necessary steps in coordination with the medical team, scouts, and Red Cross,” Shah said in a social media post.
The Nepal Army said it had deployed helicopters and disaster response personnel to the affected area.
“The work of collecting details of the damage is under way,” it said in a statement.
The Nepal Electricity Authority said about 430 megawatts of production capacity, including from hydropower and solar facilities, has been damaged.
“The disaster has damaged the production, transmission and distribution facilities of the Authority … resulting in disruption of electricity supply,” it said.
Eight South Koreans working on a hydropower plant were missing, and 10 others were stranded, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The workers were employed by two companies, Korea Energy and Doosan Enerbility Co, the ministry said, adding that Nepal has deployed a rescue team to search the affected area.
South Korea, meanwhile, has established a task force led by the foreign minister and plans to send a joint rapid-response team comprising government officials and fire and police authorities to Nepal as soon as possible.
Avalanche could have triggered flood
The exact cause of the flash flood was not immediately clear. Climate experts at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Nepal say an avalanche from a glacier likely triggered the flooding.
The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi River, witnessed maximum flooding on Wednesday, they said.
“The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in 14 months, this time triggered by an ice-rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream,” said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the climate research group.
Adhikari, the climate activist, told Al Jazeera that early warning systems are crucial to protect communities.
“This can’t be completely turned around because we are on the verge of climate catastrophe, but still we can protect our communities,” he said.
The Bhote Koshi River originates in Tibet and empties into Nepal’s Trishuli River, which eventually flows into India as the Gandak River.
A flood last year in the Bhote Koshi River killed nine people, with 24 missing, and washed away the “Friendship Bridge” linking Nepal and China, disrupting transport and trade for several months. That flood was triggered by the draining of a supraglacial lake in Tibet, a regional climate monitor said.
Monsoon rains from June to September regularly trigger deadly floods and landslides across South Asia.
Scientists say climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the region.
