Nepal has sent helicopters to assist in rescue operations after a massive flash flood washed through villages in the Himalayan nation killing at least eight people and damaging roads, bridges and hydropower projects near the border with Tibet.
China’s Xinhua news agency, over the border, reported major casualties and missing people in Tibet’s Gyirong County following a mudslide at a border crossing between China and Nepal.
In Nepal’s Rasuwa district, floodwaters were too high for helicopters to land in the affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure. Officials warned that casualties and property losses could be high.
“There could be heavy casualties or loss of property,” district administrator Narendra Pariyar told Reuters. * “But I cannot say for sure now.”
Pariyar said residents living along the Bhote Koshi river had been advised to move to higher ground after reports of villages and infrastructure project sites being washed away.
A witness told the Onlinekhabar portal, “It all happened suddenly.”*We heard a big sound, like a volcano exploding. Suddenly people started screaming and ran away.”
Nepal’s army said rescue helicopters would be unable to land until floodwaters receded.
It was not clear what caused the flooding. A fatal flash flood on the same river last year was linked to the draining of a glacier lake.
The mudslide also hit China’s Gyirong port, cutting roads, communications and electricity supplies in the Shigatse region near the Nepal border, Xinhua said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered massive search efforts for the missing and called for better monitoring and early-warning systems to prevent future disasters.
Nepal’s Energy Ministry said about 430 megawatts of electricity supply had been affected, mostly from hydropower projects.
Based on official statistics, the affected capacity is estimated to be over 12 per cent of Nepal’s total 3.2 gigawatt hydropower capacity.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said police and military personnel were helping with rescue and relief operations.
“Instructions have been given … to shift the people living in the lower areas to safer places,” he said. *“People living beside the river are advised to be more vigilant and be on the alert.
The Bhote Koshi River originates in Tibet and merges with Nepal’s Trishuli River, which enters India as the Gandak River.
Nine people died and 24 were missing in flooding on the Bhote Koshi last year, destroying a bridge connecting Nepal and China and halting trade and transport for months.
A regional climate monitor later attributed the disaster to the draining of a supraglacial lake in Tibet.