The international community was scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet on Thursday as authorities warned that a lake formed at the site where the deadly torrents occurred was rising and at risk of bursting. The catastrophic flash floods, which hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and obliterating entire villages, killed at least 359 people and left more than 1,300 missing. Efforts to locate those unaccounted for – including hundreds of tourists from India, the US, Britain, Australia and Canada – have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and almost 25 miles (40km) of roads in the mountainous region, which is popular with trekkers and pilgrims.
Rescue teams reported finding bodies hundreds of miles downstream from the disaster zone in the Chitwan district of Nepal, near the Tibetan border. Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for advanced medical care and more than 100 people were rescued by Nepali army personnel in helicopters. Videos from Wednesday’s disaster showed a massive wall of water crashing down on the border as people tried to flee, even though the power, volume and speed of the floods gave little time for escape.
Trucks were overturned and houses, roads and power plants swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” after a mudslide hit a border crossing. Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, described the flood as “horrifying”. He said emergency teams had been mobilised and an initial $2m (£1.5m) of disaster funds allocated to cover emergency medical care, shelter and water.
Nepal’s disaster authority warned of continuing danger on Thursday, appealing to residents and rescuers to stay away from a swelling lake that had formed at the flood site. The Chinese authorities warned a barrier lake at the confluence of the Tsogyal and Purupqiangzangbu rivers was overflowing and could burst. Girilal Budhathoki, 36, who lives in the Rasuwa district of Nepal’s Bagmati province, said the flood waters had swept away his wife and four children while he was away from the family home.
Suddenly, something heavy crushed me and I fell down.” Budhathoki realised what had happened only when he returned to the place where his house had stood. My wife was swept away too. I am all alone now.” Kamal Kharel, who works at a hydropower plant in Chilime, also in Rasuwa district, was in the office when the floods hit.
Police were recording the names of the missing outside the barracks gate. Mobile phone torches were their only source of light as the area remained without electricity because of damaged hydroelectric infrastructure. The village of Soley, in Nuwakot, which had about 25 homes, was almost wiped out, according to Nirajan Paudyal, a Kathmandu-based journalist whose parents and other relatives live there.
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