A flash flood on the Budhi Gandaki River in Nepal's central Gorkha district swept away houses, suspension bridges and parts of a hydropower construction site on Sunday, 11 October, prompting authorities to order evacuations of villages downstream. No deaths have been reported, but five people are missing, according to Nepalese officials.
The army said it had rescued 95 people, including nine foreigners, though an earlier tally cited by Dutch broadcaster NOS put the number at 49, including one foreigner, suggesting the operation expanded as the day went on. Nepal's Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said more than 200 homes were damaged and over 650 people affected. Some settlements are cut off and reachable only by air, and the army has deployed four helicopters for search and rescue. Within a couple of hours, the river at one location rose from about two metres to nearly 8.5 metres, and a hydrological station was washed away, leaving meteorologists without data from that point.
Residents described fear and disruption. Ganesh Karki of Jagatbagar told The Kathmandu Post that he and his neighbours sheltered in a forest about 500 metres uphill after an early-morning warning call. "We never imagined a flood of this size," he said, adding that the water surged repeatedly through the morning. The flood struck as families were preparing for the first day of Dashain, one of the most important festivals in the Nepali calendar. Save the Children is mobilising an emergency team, warning that children who had barely recovered from the earlier disaster have again lost homes and schools.
The cause is not fully established. Preliminary accounts point to a landslide that blocked the river near Chumchure (also reported as Chumnubri) in Gorkha, with the temporary dam then giving way. Other accounts mention an ice avalanche seen upstream. Experts say the debris flow was much smaller and slower than the one in August.
That earlier disaster hit Nepal's border area with Tibet, in China, after an avalanche of rock and ice near Lantang Lirung, a Himalayan peak. The Budhi Gandaki flows into the Trishuli River, downstream of where the August flood originated. That event killed more than 1,400 people, and thousands were reported missing. The government now presumes the missing dead, and the prime minister announced last week that the search would end, a decision that has drawn mixed reactions from relatives. Reconstruction is estimated to cost $4.77 billion, with damaged roads and bridges still hampering aid delivery in remote areas.
Why this matters: Nepal's steep Himalayan terrain makes it prone to landslides, floods and earthquakes. Experts say climate change, which is accelerating glacier melt, is likely increasing the risk of such events, leaving mountain communities that are still recovering increasingly exposed.