Deadly Flash Floods Leave Thousands Missing in Nepal-Tibet Border Region
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More than 1,500 people have now been confirmed missing after deadly flash floods hit the Nepal-Tibet border early Wednesday, sweeping away roads, bridges and entire villages. At least 270 people have died in Nepal. In China, authorities say two people have been rescued and the death toll stands at three.
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ABC NewsLONDON -- The death toll continues to climb two days after massive flash flooding obliterated parts of the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday, with at least 469 bodies recovered and nearly 1,000 people still missing, authorities said.
The Guardian USMore than 1,300 people are missing, with the death toll reaching 469 on Friday. More than 500 foreign citizens were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism officials have said, with Chinese state media reporting that at least 260 of the 558 missing people on the Tibet side of the border were foreign nationals.
Washington TimesChina’s state media previously said 558 people were missing. Across the border, Nepal’s disaster management authority said Friday that 977 people were still unaccounted for. Hundreds of them were foreigners in the area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak.
NBC NewsThe death toll from catastrophic flash floods and mudslides in Nepal rose to at least 626 on Saturday, as more than 2,400 people remained missing in the country, including around 90 Americans.
Democracy NowWe get a report from Nepal, where at least 547 people are confirmed to have died and over 1,500 are still missing after a glacial collapse on Wednesday sent a wall of ice, mud and rock into a Himalayan river, triggering catastrophic flooding in the Nepal-Tibet border region that swept away entire communities. Nepali authorities say they have rescued more than 3,700 people so far. Geologists say the flash floods were set off by a landslide and glacial avalanche so powerful it set off its own seismic signal. Climate scientists warn the region is warming much faster than the global average, leading to the rapid retreat of glaciers.
PBS NewsHourDevastating scale of Himalayan floods comes into focus as rescuers arrive Three days after a catastrophic wall of water, mud and rock tore through Nepal's Himalayan valleys, the scale of the disaster is still coming into focus. At least 579 people are now confirmed dead, nearly 2,000 remain missing, and the danger is not over. Authorities are closely watching lakes formed in the wake of the glacier collapse, amid fears of further flooding. Stephanie Sy reports.
Washington ExaminerThe State Department said Friday that five Americans have been safely evacuated from Nepal after devastating floods swept through the region near the Chinese border, killing hundreds and leaving thousands missing.
RealClearPoliticsThousands are feared dead after a churning wall of mud, rock and pulverised ice bulldozed down a Himalayan valley straddling the border of Nepal and China.
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Some felt the ground shake, then saw a ‘black storm’ Scientists who’ve studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was so extreme that it reached a magnitude 5.2 seismic measurement. The rocks and melted water then swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing a torrent of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.
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NBC NewsVideos from the hardest-hit border regions showed people running as the debris flow swallowed buildings and vehicles, devastated towns and settlements, and severed roads, power and communications. The suspected collapse of a melting glacier shook the ground so violently that seismic monitors initially registered it as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake.
The Guardian USWhat could have caused this deadly flash floods? Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause, raising concerns that the climate crisis is destabilizing the geology of mountain and polar regions.
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About 90 Americans remain unaccounted for, according to the State Department. Officials said they are aware of no U.S. citizen deaths.
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NBC NewsThe State Department said it is not aware of any confirmed American deaths, but the large number of U.S. citizens still unaccounted for has added to the growing uncertainty surrounding the disaster.
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Some of the missing may have been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.
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NPR NewsMany of the missing are Hindu pilgrims, who were journeying to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists.
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As search and rescue efforts continued in Nepal on Friday, authorities said at least 1,545 people had been injured and rescued and that 8,380 police personnel had been deployed to the region, according to the Nepal Police.
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Washington TimesNepal’s disaster management authority said the death toll there rose to 538, and that more than 3,700 people have been rescued. Nepali police later put the number of deaths higher at 547.
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Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 NBC News As families wait for news about their relatives, damaged roads, power outages and fears of further flooding have hampered rescue efforts.
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02 New York Times ‘Immense’ Devastation as Nepal Continues Search for 2,400 Missing in Floods As rescue efforts entered their fourth day, the scale of destruction came into focus, signaling a daunting recovery for the vulnerable nation.
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03 Washington Examiner “Of course, this catastrophe is beyond words,” Pigott added. “We are seeing those glimmers of hope in terms of the five Americans that have been safely evacuated. We are here to help every single American that we can. That is our dedication. That is our highest priority. That is our commitment.”
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04 NPR News The U.S. Geological Survey says a glacial collapse triggered the floods, after initially reporting the event as a 4.4 magnitude earthquake.
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05 The Guardian US South Korean police will re-examine about 310,000 missing persons cases closed over the past three years after an officer was arrested on suspicion of falsifying records to close files on two people who were later found dead. President Lee Jae Myung has ordered an investigation into the police handling of adult missing persons and told the force to draw up a reform plan.
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06 ABC News The number of people considered missing has fluctuated significantly as recovery efforts have accelerated.
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07 Washington Times Meanwhile, there was little information on survivors on the Chinese side, where the death toll rose to five Friday as state media showed evacuations of villages and leaders’ efforts to direct the relief response.
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08 Democracy Now “Scientists and civil society have been warning about the very fact that these kind of events might happen in the Himalayas,” says Sunil Acharya, a climate and public policy specialist reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal. “This is the result of the delayed global action to deal with climate change.”
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