WASHINGTON, DC — The death toll from the flash flooding that struck the Nepal-Tibet border region this week has risen to at least 682, with more than 3,000 people still missing as search crews continue racing against time. Authorities say the disaster hit Wednesday morning and left destruction stretching miles downriver.
Nepalese officials say 675 people have died in Nepal, while Chinese authorities have reported seven deaths in Tibet. The number of missing people remains in flux as rescuers recover bodies, evacuate survivors and work through damaged areas where roads, bridges and buildings were swept away or buried.
American citizens among those unaccounted for
The U.S. State Department said 90 Americans were among the missing as of Friday, and confirmed that five U.S. citizens had been evacuated by then. Officials said U.S. embassies in Nepal and China are working to support Americans and assist disaster response efforts.
In a Saturday statement, the department said the United States is providing $3.6 million in humanitarian aid, including emergency food assistance for up to 10,000 flood-affected households for as long as three months. The department said there is no higher priority than the safety of American citizens caught up in the disaster.
One family told ABC News that a mother, father and aunt were located on Life360 on a bridge near the Tibetan border shortly before the flood hit. Their son said he had spoken with his mother only hours earlier, on her birthday, before they went missing on a trip they had been anticipating for months.
Search, rescue and recovery remain underway
Nepal’s disaster agency said at least 7,514 people have been rescued, including 227 foreign nationals, and 219 injured people have either been treated or discharged. Burial of severely damaged and unidentifiable remains began Saturday in the districts of Chitwan and Nawalparasi, with other affected areas expected to follow.
Health officials said bodies that can still be identified are being preserved in freezers, while DNA samples and other evidence are being saved for remains that cannot be recognized. Nepal says it does not have enough capacity to store so many badly damaged remains for long, and it is coordinating forensic work with India and China while Israeli specialists are expected to arrive.
What investigators think happened
Authorities say the flooding began around 8:40 a.m. local time Wednesday in Nepal’s northern Rasuwa district along the border with Tibet. The water surged through the Trishuli River area, burying some buildings and damaging bridges and roadways before continuing far downstream.
Nepal’s disaster management office said the flood may have been triggered by a landslide about 12 miles northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border post. The U.S. Geological Survey said a 5.2-magnitude landslide was registered Wednesday and initially was mistaken for a 4.4-magnitude earthquake. The agency estimated that more than 100 million cubic meters of ice, rock and debris were displaced, and said the slide appears to have removed part of a glacier high in the Himalayas.
When the weather turns dangerous, SVH Snow is watching.
