Flash flood kills many on Nepal-China border
Flash floods in Nepal and a mudslide in Tibet have caused widespread devastation, with hundreds missing after floodwater swept through riverside settlements in the north of Nepal, leaving destruction in its wake.
At least 95 people have died in the disaster, Nepali police said earlier today, but that toll is expected to rise once the waters recede and the true extent of the damage becomes clear. Three people have been killed in Tibet and 265 others are missing, Chinese authorities just reported.
Here’s what we know.
At 8:37 a.m. local time, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake was reported by US Geological Survey to have struck along the Nepal-China border, north of Kathmandu.
Around the same time, an “avalanche” of ice and rock — more like a landslide in this case — tore down a mountainside and into the Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi River, which flows from China into Nepal, often through deep gorges.
Whether the quake triggered a landslide, or the earthquake-like shaking was caused by the landslide itself, is still being investigated, but a group of scientists investigating the causes believes it was the latter.
This landslide likely “released a sudden surge downstream,” said Saswata Sanyal, of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, a regional climate organization.
Videos have shown the devastation unleashed by the powerful floodwaters which swept off the mountains. A major land border crossing between China and Nepal was completely overwhelmed in less than a minute, with a mudslide appearing to wipe out everything in its path, engulfing those trying to flee.
Elsewhere, footage shows torrential flood water tearing through Bidur, a town about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, bursting the banks of a river, causing multi-storey buildings to collapse and washing away a bridge.
At least 95 people have been killed, police in Nepal’s Bagmati province said earlier today, but that is not a true indicator of the destruction. Almost 400 travelers, including hundreds of foreign nationals, have been reported missing in Nepal, the country’s tourism board said. Italy’s foreign ministry say 90 Italians in the area are missing. And 60 employees of an under-construction hydropower project in northern Nepal are also missing, according to Nepali state media.
Three people have been killed in Tibet and 265 others are missing, Chinese authorities said earlier today.
Rescue helicopters are struggling to land in the affected areas because the floodwaters are so high, Nepali authorities said earlier today, according to Reuters. However, the Nepali army posted videos of helicopters hovering just above the floodwater and buildings, so that people could clamber to safety.
China has mobilized multiple agencies to respond to the disaster in Tibet, with Chinese state media saying the top leadership quickly guided the response to the disaster, suggesting the potential severity of impact.
CNN’s Billy Stockwell, Oliver Sherwood, Laura Paddison, Ross Adkin and Simone McCarthy contributed reporting.