At least eight people were killed and hundreds more were reported missing in Nepal on Wednesday after an avalanche of ice and rock triggered massive flash floods, sweeping through villages and causing widespread damage to roads and hydropower infrastructure.
Officials said 384 tourists were reported missing, including 291 foreign nationals from countries such as India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Malaysia.
The Bhotekoshi River overflowed at around 9 a.m., inundating several villages and damaging roads and hydropower projects, according to officials. Authorities warned residents in several districts to stay away from the banks of the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers.
“We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts,” said Sasmit Pokharel, a spokesperson for the Nepali government.
Rasuwa district, the worst-affected area, experienced flash flooding similar to an event in August last year, when a glacial lake in neighbouring Tibet overflowed amid high temperatures in the Himalayan region. That disaster killed nine people and damaged critical infrastructure, including a bridge linking Nepal and China.
Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said an avalanche from a glacier likely triggered Wednesday’s flooding.
The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, recorded the highest flooding, according to the research group.
“The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in fourteen 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 ICIMOD.
“In a warming Himalaya, early warning is the first line of adaptation,” he added.
The Himalayan region, which spans Nepal and several neighbouring countries including India, is particularly vulnerable to heavy rainfall, floods and landslides as temperatures rise faster than the global average due to human-induced climate change.
Research has shown that extreme weather events, including heatwaves, heavy rainfall and glacier melt, are becoming more frequent across the region.
Researchers at ICIMOD found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an accelerating rate, with the rate of ice loss doubling since 2000, primarily as a result of rising global temperatures and climate change.
