Nepal border flood survivors recount homes swept away within minutes

A flash flood and landslides tore through Nepal's Bhote Koshi-Trishuli river system, sweeping away settlements at the Nepal-Tibet border. Survivors' accounts underline the scale of loss as rescuers search for the missing and communities face a long rebuild.Image used for representational purposes onlyA catastrophic flash flood and landslides in Nepal's Bhote Koshi-Trishuli river system have left widespread devastation in the Nepal-Tibet border area, with survivors recounting how homes and settlements were swept away within minutes. Police and rescue teams had recovered hundreds of bodies by Thursday night, while hundreds more remained missing.As rescue teams from the Nepal Army and other security agencies continued searches in Rasuwa, Dhading, Nuwakot and Chitwan districts, survivors in hospitals and shelters in Bidur, Trishuli and Kathmandu struggled with injuries and the loss of relatives, colleagues, homes and workplaces. The disaster has also affected foreign nationals, with Nepalese and Indian authorities saying thousands remained missing, including people from more than 30 countries, while 288 Indians were among those unaccounted for.For Raju Budhathoki, a customs agent in Nepal's Rasuwa district, Wednesday began like any other day before it turned into what he described as a fight for survival. Budhathoki was resting in his room in Timure at around 8.45 am local time when the hillside began shaking violently, according to a report by The Kathmandu Post. Thinking it was an earthquake, he ran outside towards a nearby police post, only to find the policemen fleeing as well. As he climbed over a wire fence, he injured his hand but kept running. Looking back, he saw houses in Timure market being swept away one after another. He finally reached a forest about 500 metres uphill and survived there. "From the forest, when I looked down at Timure, I never imagined I would get a second chance at life like this. Now everything feels like a terrible dream," the newspaper quoted him as saying from his hospital bed in Trishuli.Another customs agent, Prakash Gautam, also described a narrow escape from Timure. He told The Kathmandu Post that a loud rumbling sound was followed within moments by darkness over the market and a black cloud across the sky. "I ran out of my room without knowing what I was doing. I had no idea where to go or which way to run. I just wanted to survive," he said. "From the forest above, I could see bodies scattered and floating in the floodwaters. Before my eyes, beautiful Timure was reduced to ruins. The houses and settlements were swept away. Now there is nothing but a vast expanse of sand and mud," he said. Gautam and others could not be rescued during the day and spent Wednesday night in a forest, surviving on packets of noodles dropped by a Nepal Army helicopter, according to the report. A Nepal Army helicopter reached them at around 10 am on Thursday and flew them to Bidur. "Only after boarding the helicopter did I feel that I had actually survived," Gautam said.For Tulsi Bahadur Bhandari of Dolakha, survival came after the floodwaters threw him towards a hillside. He told the newspaper that a torrent of black mud and water suddenly engulfed the settlement and houses collapsed one after another. "I ran. But the force of the flood hit me and threw me violently," he said, adding that being pushed towards the slope stopped him from being swept away. "If the current had not thrown me towards the slope, I would not be alive today," he said. At hospitals and shelters, people were trying to understand what had happened. Ram Kumar Rana, who was caring for injured relatives at a hospital, said some people were buried under sand and mud as they tried to escape. "The surge hit them as they were running and buried them. Rescue teams, with the help of helicopters, later pulled them out and brought them here," the newspaper quoted him as saying. He said children panicked during the chaos, with some falling and suffering injuries.The destruction has also left families desperately searching for missing relatives. In Trishuli in Nuwakot district, families gathered at Sainik Maidan on Thursday to give information about those who had disappeared. "My father is there. He worked at a hydropower project in the affected area. He is missing. He was on duty that morning, and we have not been able to contact him since," a local resident told PTI Videos. Another survivor from Rasuwa said, "Nothing is left there. I have lost everything," adding that both his father and mother were missing.Some survivors said they received alerts asking people living near the river to evacuate but had little time to get away. "We received a news alert here at around 9:35, saying that the floodwaters had moved away and that everyone living in the river area should evacuate. But we simply did not get enough time to leave," a local resident told PTI Videos. "There used to be two bridges here. Now, there are hardly any houses left; only a few houses remain. I don't know how the government will manage the situation," the resident said.A rescue team member told PTI Videos that the full scale of the casualties was still to be established, with initial reports indicating a massive loss of life and nearly 1,000 people missing. The member said the flash flood originated in the Tibet region and surged into the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems, washing away bridges and local structures and severely damaging infrastructure.Khagendra Sunar, a member of Nepal's Parliament, said moving survivors to safer places and rebuilding the devastated settlements would take considerable time. "Restoring the markets and the area will certainly take a lot of time. But the people who have survived need to be shifted to safer places," Sunar told PTI Videos. "Every party is contributing as this is a major disaster. It is not just the government's responsibility; it is the responsibility of all of us," he said.As rescue operations continued, the disaster left survivors facing a harsh reality: many escaped the floodwaters only to find that their homes, workplaces and communities had been wiped out. The accounts from the affected districts captured both the relief of survival and the grief of those still missing or feared dead.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 28, 2026 11:26 IST