KATHMANDU, Sept 1: Six days into what is arguably Nepal’s worst flooding disaster in documented history, thousands of desperate families are still waiting for answers, scouring hospitals and morgues for loved ones swept away by torrents of water and mud as the death toll from the catastrophic Rasuwa flood continues to rise.
Grieving relatives of those missing in last Wednesday’s apocalyptic Bhotekoshi-Trishuli flood have been moving from hospital to hospital across Kathmandu, Chitwan and Pokhara, checking photographs of recovered bodies and searching morgues. Some have put up photographs and contact numbers of missing family members on hospital walls, hoping someone will recognise them.
Their agonising wait continues amid challenges in rescue and recovery efforts as the death toll from the floods climbed to 939 on Monday, with the chances of finding survivors getting slim each passing day.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), 3,925 people are still missing. Those include 3,333 Nepali citizens and 592 foreign nationals, with Nuwakot reporting the highest number at 1,158, followed by Rasuwa with 865.
Among those unaccounted for are 45 Nepali Army personnel, 25 Nepal Police personnel, 13 Armed Police Force members, 18 customs and immigration officials and three officials each from the Langtang National Park and quarantine office.
The number of missing workers from hydropower projects, many of which bore the full force of the floodwaters, has been revised to 639 from 933 as rescue teams and families have accounted for more people. A student of Kathmandu University told Republica that among those missing are eight engineering students of KU who had reached the site for internship a day before the disaster struck.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that the 592 missing foreign nationals were from 39 countries. More than 323 foreign nationals have been rescued so far, the ministry added.
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According to AFP, India has also recovered 17 bodies from rivers in Uttar Pradesh believed to have been carried downstream from Nepal. Indian authorities are working to identify the bodies, which have not been included in Nepal’s death toll, added the news agency.
The disaster, which swept away entire settlements in riverbank areas of Rasuwa and Nuwakot district, also carried away a huge number of vehicles along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli corridor. Preliminary estimates from the National Federation of Nepali Transport Entrepreneurs show that about 100 buses, more than 70 microbuses and around 300 freight tippers remain missing or unaccounted for in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading.
Around 300 containers near the Rasuwagadhi border point have also been reported missing, according to the federation.
The loss of vehicles has also meant the loss of livelihoods and contact with hundreds of people. Preliminary records indicate that around 500 drivers, operators, workers and businessmen associated with the vehicles remain out of contact.
Meanwhile, concerns remain over further flooding along the Nepal-China border after the disaster triggered the formation of a lake. Government authorities said two CCTV cameras are being installed near the border to monitor the river and provide early warning of any potential surge.
Flood expert Sauhard Joshi told Republica that the cameras would allow authorities to visually monitor changes in river flow and assess risks more quickly.
In Rasuwa’s district headquarters Dhunche, where electricity has remained cut off since the devastating August 26 flood, a small but important lifeline returned Monday.
The Nepal Red Cross Society, with support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, brought a generator to Dhunche to allow survivors, residents and stranded pilgrims to charge their mobile phones.
For days, the power outage had cut many people off from relatives and the outside world. With phones charging again, some residents were finally able to hear the voices of family members and let them know they were alive.
A technical team is meanwhile working to restore electricity in the flood-hit district.
The disaster was triggered at around 8:37 am last Wednesday when a massive mass of ice, rock and debris fell from an altitude of about 5,200 metres in the Langtang-Lirung area and entered the Lhende River, according to a preliminary study by scientists. The surge then travelled through the Bhotekoshi and into the Trishuli river, carrying enormous quantities of rock, sediment and soil. The study found that the mass travelled about 22 kilometres to Rasuwagadhi in just over seven minutes, reaching an estimated average speed of 46.3 metres per second, or 167 kilometres per hour, before slowing to around 73 km/h between Rasuwagadhi and Betrabati and about 22 km/h further downstream.
A similar flash flood had hit the same region about a year ago on July 8, 2025. However, eyewitnesses describe this year’s flash flood as much more destructive that the previous one with some survivors likening it with a ‘tsunami’.
Flash floods, which were rarely heard of until two decades ago, have become a recurring phenomena in recent years.
A massive flood and landslide triggered by an avalanche in Thame village of Solukhumbu district on August 16, 2024 swept away at least twelve houses and a school building.
A massive flood in Kagbeni of Mustang on August 13, 2023 washed away 20 houses including a police station building.
On May 5, 2012, a catastrophic flash flood swept down the Seti River in the Kaski district of Nepal, killing at least 72 people and devastating downstream settlements.
Prior to that, the Koshi River breached its eastern embankment on August 18, 2008, at Kusaha in Nepal, roughly 12 kilometers upstream of the Koshi Barrage, causing massive floods and shifting the river by over 100 kilometers, according to ICIMOD. Despite the larger area and population affected by the Koshi flood, last week’s disaster remains the country’s worst in terms of human casualties and property damage, which is estimated at USD 4-5 billion by the government.
