Nepal-Tibet flash flood kills at least 17

A massive flash flood and mudslide swept through the Nepal-Tibet border region early Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, washing away villages and cutting roads, communications and power in a remote Himalayan district, police said.

The flood struck Rasuwa, north of Kathmandu, along the Bhote Koshi River, which flows from Tibet into Nepal. Nepalese officials said the disaster damaged roads, bridges, hydropower sites and other infrastructure, while Chinese state media reported “major casualties” and missing people across the border in Tibet’s Gyirong county.

Nepal Police spokesman Abhi Narayan Kaphle told the BBC that all security agencies were working together on rescue efforts. Search operations were under way on both sides of the border, and 12 people had been rescued, according to police.

Authorities said the flood was reportedly caused by excessive snow melting into the Bhote Koshi River. Videos shared by Nepal Police and others on social media showed torrents of muddy water crashing through mountain valleys and villages.

Officials warned that the toll could rise. “There could be heavy casualties or loss of property,” district administrator Narendra Pariyar told Reuters, according to Al Jazeera. “But I cannot say for sure now.” Pariyar urged people living along the Bhote Koshi River to move to higher ground, citing reports that nearby villages and infrastructure project sites had been washed away.

The waters were too high for helicopters to land in the affected Nepalese areas of Syapru Besi and Timure, officials said. The Nepal Army said it had deployed helicopters and disaster response personnel, adding in a statement: “The work of collecting details of the damage is under way.”

Prime Minister Balendra Shah convened an emergency meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. “Work has started to take necessary steps in co-ordination with the medical team, scouts, and Red Cross,” he said in a social media post.

The disruption extended across the border. China’s Xinhua news agency said a mudslide hit Gyirong port, a land crossing between China and Nepal, cutting off roads, communications and power in the Shigatse region. Chinese President Xi Jinping urged “all-out” efforts to search for the missing and called for stronger monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.

Several areas downstream remained on high alert. Nepalese authorities said the main road to Kathmandu was closed, and several highways were shut. The Nepal Electricity Authority said about 430 megawatts of production capacity, including hydropower and solar facilities, had been damaged. “The disaster has damaged the production, transmission and distribution facilities of the Authority … resulting in disruption of electricity supply,” it said.

The communications blackout left families and businesses unable to reach people in the area. “Our logistics company has seven container trucks there, all staffed by Nepalese employees. We have lost contact with all of them. There is no signal, so we cannot reach anyone,” Yee Liang, a Chinese businessman based in Kathmandu, told the BBC. “As far as I know, there was no warning. There were occasional mudslides and landslides, especially in the rainy season, but this one seems much more serious.”

Authorities said 13 armed police officers were missing from two posts in Rasuwa district, and they had not been able to contact dozens of other officers.

Rasuwa also suffered deadly flooding last year. The BBC reported that an earlier flood killed 18 people after a glacier burst on the Chinese side of the border, while Al Jazeera reported that last year’s Bhote Koshi flood killed nine people, left 24 missing and washed away the Friendship Bridge linking Nepal and China. Officials told the BBC they believe Wednesday’s disaster exceeds last year’s floods in scale.