At least 17 killed as flash flood sweeps part of Nepal-Tibet border

At least 17 people have been killed after a massive flash flood and mudslide along the Nepal-Tibet border washed away villages and damaged roads and infrastructure, according to police.

The flood hit early on Wednesday in Rasuwa, just north of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, reportedly caused by excessive snow melting into the Bhote Koshi river.

Search operations are under way on both sides of the border between Tibet and Nepal and 12 people have been rescued so far.

State media in China, which controls Tibet, say there are significant casualties and Nepalese officials said they anticipate "huge scale loss".

Nepal Police spokesman Abhi Narayan Kaphle told the BBC that all security agencies were working together on rescue efforts.

Videos show floodwater crashing through villages.

Several areas downstream of the Bhote Koshi river, which flows from Tibet to Nepal, are on high alert and roads, communications and power in the region have been disrupted. The authorities say the main road to Kathmandu is closed.

"Our logistics company has seven container trucks there, all staffed by Nepalese employees. We have lost contact with all of them. There is no signal, so we cannot reach anyone," Yee Liang, a Chinese businessman based in Kathmandu, told the BBC.

"As far as I know, there was no warning. There were occasional mudslides and landslides, especially in the rainy season, but this one seems much more serious."

The extent of the damage on the Tibetan side is unclear but the BBC spoke to Guan Daoxuan in Sichuan province who said he had lost contact with his wife late on Wednesday morning.

She works for a state-run construction company involved in building roads and bridges in Tibet. Guan said Nepalese authorities had tried to send a helicopter to inspect the area because road access had been cut off, but strong winds were making it difficult for the aircraft to reach the site.

Nepal's disaster management authority called on people living near river banks in vulnerable areas to remain alert and take precautions.

"Work has started to take necessary steps in co-ordination with the medical team, scouts, and Red Cross," Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post, after holding an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation.

Authorities said 13 officers from the armed police force were missing from two posts in Rasuwa district, and they had not been able to contact dozens of other police officers.

Rasuwa saw deadly flooding last year that killed 18 people after a glacier burst on the Chinese side of the border.

Source: Read the original article on www.bbc.co.uk

Additional coverage from www.business-standard.com:

Floodwater flows across a residential area, in Nepal. (@NepalPoliceHQ/X via PTI Photo)

A sudden, massive flood swept through two central Nepal districts bordering Tibet killing four people, causing extensive devastation at settlements along the river and damaging at least a dozen hydropower projects early Wednesday.

The flood surged through the Bhote Koshi River at around 9 am (local time) coming from the Tibet side affecting Rasuwa and Dhading districts bordering Tibet and Nuwakot district, southwest of Kathmandu, officials said.

The flooding was not caused by local rains in Rasuwa but possibly because of the heavy rainfall or avalanche on the Tibetan side, they said, but the exact cause is yet to be ascertained.

Multiple downstream districts, including Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Chitawan, have been placed on high alert even as officials started search and rescue operations with the help of Nepal Army in the affected areas.

The sudden rise in water caused widespread destruction in Timure in Rasuwa district and the nearby Syafrubesi area, with vehicles, goods and other property washed away, the Nepal Army said in a statement.

The most affected is Rasuwa, about 125 kms northeast of Kathmandu, situated near the Tibet border. The bodies of three men and a woman were recovered from Bidur Municipality of Nuwakot district after the flash flood, Senior Superintendent of Police and spokesperson at Bagmati Province Police Office told PTI.

Their bodies were found lying near the Trishuli river soon after the flood, he said.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRM) of Nepal, in a statement, called people residing near river banks of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Chitawan and Gorkha to remain on high alert and take safety measures until further notice.

According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Wednesday's flooding was not caused by rainfall in Rasuwa. The flooding did not appear to have been caused by heavy rainfall in Rasuwa itself, according to Dinkar Kayastha, information officer at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.

It might have been caused by either formation of a new glacier or bursting of the old one, he added. "We are still studying the matter, so the real cause is not yet known," he said and maintained that the risk of the flood from the Tibetan side has not yet vanished, so "we need to be cautious." 
Investigations are under way to determine the cause of the sudden surge, with officials examining whether it was triggered by a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) or another factor, The Himalayan Times said.

Rasuwa Assistant Chief District Officer Dhruva Prasad Adhikari said the scale of the flooding was unusually large and that the two settlements had suffered significant damage.

Rasuwa Chief Customs Officer Rajendra Dhungana said numerous vehicles and goods kept at the customs premises were swept away. A recently constructed bridge was also destroyed. This is a place which regulates Nepal's trade traffic connecting Tibet, China.

The flash flood damaged in-operation eight hydropower projects with a total capacity of 354 MW and five under construction projects located in Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts, according to a statement by Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN).

The major in-operation hydropower projects damaged by the floods include Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project (111 MW), Sanjen Khola Hydropower Project (78 MW) and Upper Trishuli 3A (60 MW).