Nepal has dispatched helicopters to help in rescue work after a huge flash flood swept through villages in the Himalayan nation killing at least eight people and destroying roads, bridges and hydropower projects near the border with Tibet.
Over the border, China’s Xinhua news agency reported major casualties and missing people in Tibet’s Gyirong County after a mudslide at a border crossing between China and Nepal.
In Syapru Besi and Timure in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, the floodwater was too high for helicopters to land. Officials warned of possible high casualties and property losses.
“There could be heavy casualties or loss of property,” district administrator Narendra Pariyar told Reuters. “But I cannot say for sure now.”
Pariyar said residents along the Bhote Koshi river have been asked to move to higher ground after reports of villages and infrastructure project sites being washed away.
“It all happened suddenly,” a witness told Onlinekhabar.We heard a big noise like a volcano going off. Suddenly people were screaming and running away.”
Nepal’s army said rescue helicopters would not be able to land until floodwaters subsided.
The cause of the flooding was unclear. A lethal flash flood on the same river last year was blamed on the draining of a glacier lake.
The mudslide also struck China’s Gyirong port, with roads, communications and electricity supplies cut in the Shigatse region near the border with Nepal, Xinhua said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for better monitoring and early-warning systems to prevent future disasters and ordered massive search efforts for the missing.
About 430 megawatts of electricity supply, mainly from hydropower projects, had been hit, Nepal’s Energy Ministry said.
Official statistics indicate that the capacity affected is estimated to be over 12 per cent of Nepal’s total 3.2 gigawatt hydropower capacity.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said police and military personnel were involved in rescue and relief operations.
“Orders have been issued to shift the people living in lower areas to safer places,” he said. “People living beside the river are asked to be more vigilant and on alert.
Originating in Tibet, the Bhote Koshi River joins Nepal’s Trishuli River, which enters India as the Gandak River.
Last year, flooding on the Bhote Koshi killed nine people and left 24 missing, destroying a bridge linking Nepal and China and halting trade and transport for months.
A regional climate monitor later blamed the draining of a supraglacial lake in Tibet for the disaster.
