Nearly 600 dead in Nepal-Tibet floods; Red Cross warns toll will rise

On Wednesday morning in Nepal's Langtang national park, a massive section of glacier broke free from the Himalayan heights and crashed onto the valley floor below. The impact unleashed a torrent of water, mud, rock, and ice that tore down through rivers and valleys with devastating force, obliterating everything in its path. By Friday afternoon, nearly 600 people were confirmed dead—579 in Nepal and five across the border in Tibet. Another 1,900 remained missing. The Red Cross estimated that at least 93,000 people had been affected by the disaster.

The scale of the destruction became clearer as rescue teams pushed into the affected areas. In Bidur, the capital of Nuwakot district, what had once been a bustling town on the banks of the Trishuli River now lay in ruins. Most homes had been washed away entirely. The few structures still standing—a bank, a government office, an ATM booth—were buried in mud and debris. Survivors described clinging to buildings and trees as the water rushed over them. Officials acknowledged that bodies remained inside some of these buildings but said it was too dangerous to attempt recovery. Along the muddy roads, people gathered to call out for lost relatives and to dig through what remained of their possessions.

The flooding destroyed more than 40 bridges and obliterated over 40 kilometers of road, cutting off entire communities from the outside world. Most areas affected by the floods could be reached only by army helicopter. At the Bidur army camp, where much of the rescue coordination was happening, helicopters flew in and out every five minutes, bringing dozens of traumatized survivors. Many had lost family members, homes, and everything they owned within minutes. Rescue teams reported finding bodies hundreds of miles downstream in the Chitwan district, near the Indian border. More than 100 people were rescued by Nepali army personnel in helicopters, and dozens of injured were transported to Kathmandu for advanced medical care.

The Red Cross warned that the death toll would likely continue to rise as rescue teams struggled to reach the hardest-hit areas. David Fisher, the IFRC head of delegation for Nepal, said on Friday that the trauma was enormous. "Thousands of homes have been destroyed or suffered significant damage," he said. "The death toll is very high and unfortunately likely to continue to rise." The UN resident coordinator for Nepal, Lila Pieters Yahia, described the damage as "just incredible."

Rescue operations faced a new threat on Friday morning when a dam of debris overflowed, sending water surging toward rescue teams and forcing a temporary suspension of operations. Residents in Nepal's Rasuwa district, on the border with Tibet, were seen rushing up hillsides to escape a possible surge in the river. The Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that a lake formed by piles of debris from the mudslide had begun overflowing, sending water toward areas where rescue teams were headed. In Bidur, rescue workers were moved from the area and people who had tried to return to their homes were told to evacuate immediately as the Trishuli River began to rise again.

The floods occurred in a region already vulnerable to such disasters. Nepal's steep slopes and lush valleys below are especially susceptible to flooding and landslides. Extreme weather events—intense monsoons and melting glaciers—have become more common because of warming caused by human-induced climate change. The disaster also affected hundreds of foreign nationals who were in the area to work, trek with guides, or make a pilgrimage. They were among the 1,900 people still missing as of Friday.

The international community moved quickly to offer assistance. India, China, the US, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh all asked the Nepali government to allow their search and rescue teams to help. However, Nepal declined the offers, saying its own security agencies were handling the search and rescue operation and that foreign assistance was not needed. Lok Bahadur Chhetri, a spokesperson for Nepal's foreign ministry, said the decision had nothing to do with sensitivities over the Rasuwa district and its border with Tibet. But Dinesh Bhattarai, a former Nepali ambassador to the UN in Geneva, suggested otherwise, telling Reuters that the government may have considered "the locational sensitivity of the region" when deciding to refuse foreign teams.

Information from Chinese authorities about the scale of destruction in Tibet remained scarce. Only five deaths were confirmed there, and state-controlled media reports about the floods were tightly controlled. Chinese reports focused primarily on rescue efforts. As rescue operations continued and the full scope of the disaster became clearer, the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations warned that the confirmed death toll represented only a partial accounting of the catastrophe.