Newsman: Deadly floods triggered by an avalanche killed more than hundred people including 47 American in Nepal Wednesday. People from Indian, China, Canada, and Australia are also missing. Nepali Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Parliament on Wednesday, that an earthquake in the area could have triggered an avalanche and caused the floods, according to the local media. With the overflow of muddy water sweeping down from an estimated nearly 6,560 feet above sea level, flood alerts were issued in the populous northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which border Nepal and where several rivers flow down the mountains into the plains.
Authorities in Bihar said they had evacuated about 5,000 people from six districts and planned to evacuate a total of 10,000 to 12,000 people. Police and military were joining in the rescue effort, said Prime Minister Balendra Shah.
“Instructions have been given … to move the people living in the lower areas to safer places,” he said. “People along the river are advised to exercise extra caution and remain alert.”
The German Research Center for Geosciences said there was a 4.4-magnitude quake approximately seven minutes before the time shown on the security video timestamp.
“An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, about 12 miles northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing,” Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on X.
The catastrophic flooding on the Nepali side killed at least 157 people and left hundreds of tourists missing he said. In the affected areas, houses, trees and vehicles were seen submerged or buried in mudslides. Helicopters hovered overhead all day in the area bringing in survivors. A wall of mud and rock appeared to collapse into a river on the Himalayan border of Nepal and China’s Tibet.
Rescue helicopters could not land in Nepal’s affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000, officials said, with the river flowing above its normal course.
Authorities on both sides fearing far higher casualties and massive destruction, as verified videos showed dozens of people swept away at the border, with Houses, roads and power projects. Officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” with some missing in the county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a border land crossing.
The office of Nepal’s prime minister said that 484 tourists were missing, of whom 391 were foreigners and 93 Nepalese. Among missing persons, according a tourism board spokesperson Sunil Sharma, 133 were from India 47 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada. Indians were on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, he said. But the numbers of missing local people were unknown or were not clear.
The US State Department spokesperson said it “is aware of Americans impacted by the floods in Nepal and is closely tracking the situation.”
Canada was also closely following the situation, said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on X, calling the floods “absolutely devastating.”
China’s state broadcaster said three people were killed and 265 others remain missing in Gyirong, the first casualty figures provided for the Chinese side of the border. It said the toll was still being verified and rescue efforts were ongoing.
President Xi Jinping urged “all-out” search efforts for the missing as well as stronger monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the mudslide hit the Gyirong port, cutting roads, communications and power links in the Shigatse region near the border.
The Chinese military has dispatched drones to conduct damage assessments, a statement said, adding it was organizing transport aircraft, helicopters and other equipment to be on standby for rescue operations.
South Korea separately said that eight of its nationals working on a hydropower plant were missing.
