Hundreds of people are feared dead after a catastrophic flash flood engulfed towns and villages in Nepal near China’s Tibetan border.
Initial reports put the death toll at around 160, but hundreds more are missing after the flood destroyed roads, bridges, power projects and hundreds of buildings.
A deluge of water and debris rushed down a gorge along the Trishuli River towards Nepalese towns in areas popular with mountaineering tourists and pilgrims.
Nepal’s tourism ministry says more than 400 tourists are unaccounted for, including 34 Australians.
It happened in the busy border region 65 kilometres north of the capital Kathmandu.
Deluge Struck Without Warning
Without warning, the giant wave of water and debris barrelled down the Trishuli River towards Nepalese towns in areas popular with mountaineering tourists and pilgrims.
Videos showed a wall of mud and rock sweeping away buildings, roads and vehicles, as people fled for the lives from the fast-moving wave of material in the Nuwakot region.
In one video, a towering wall of water and mud was seen enveloping the Rasuvagadhi Border checkpoint which is a multi-storey building.
Others showed people running for the lives before the giant wave swept over them.
Severe flooding has also been reported along the Bhote Koshi and Narayani rivers.
Deaths have also been reported in villages on the Tibetan side of the border where nearly 300 people are missing.
Landslide Triggered The Disaster
At first, Nepalese authorities believed an earthquake had caused the deluge, but they have since confirmed that it was actually triggered by a landslide.
“Additional analysis of long period seismic waves indicate that the seismic energy was instead generated by a landslide,” said the US Geological Survey.
Officials with Nepal’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology have told the BBC that a massive chunk of ice may have collapsed from a mountain, pulling down rocks and other sediments with it.
While climate change is known to be contributing to glacial melt in the region, scientists say it’s still too early to know if it played a role in this specific event.
Nepal’s Steep Valleys Can be Precarious
Other factors being considered include are a glacial avalanche, whether any glacial lakes suddenly drained, or whether the river became blocked – as well as data on recent rainfall.
The region’s steep valleys are economic lifelines and travel corridors, but precarious ones when disaster strikes.
Images from the disaster zone showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in the hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by.
Debris hung from tree branches and wires, vehicles were buried and stunned survivors were caked in mud.
Damaged houses have been left standing precariously near the swollen, debris-choked banks of the Trishuli River.
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