‘Nothing is left’: Survivors, families recount horror of Nepal’s devastating flash floods
For Giri Lal, the devastating flash floods that swept through Nepal's Rasuwa district have left behind memories of his wife and four children, all of whom were washed away in the disaster.
The 38-year-old truck driver was among those caught in the flash floods that struck Timure, a border town near the Nepal-Tibet border, with such terrifying speed that eyewitnesses compared the destruction to an earthquake.
Lal lost his wife, two sons and two daughters in the disaster. He is now undergoing treatment at a government hospital in Kathmandu, around 160 km from Timure.
The death toll from the massive floods rose to 270 on Thursday, while rescuers continued searching for hundreds of people still missing in one of Nepal's worst disasters in recent years.
The flash floods struck parts of central Nepal on Wednesday after an ice-rock avalanche upstream blocked the Lhende tributary of the Bhote Koshi River. The resulting surge, carrying huge amounts of mud and debris, first hit Rasuwa and later spread to other districts.
Families continued searching for their missing relatives. Lipa Sapkota stood outside Bharatpur Hospital with a photograph of her brother Sabi, who has been missing since Wednesday morning.
“We have been showing their pictures to people and asking if anyone has seen them,” she said. She added that some bodies had been recovered but were difficult to identify because of their condition.
Another eyewitness recalled the first reports of the disaster while he was having breakfast.
“I heard people saying, ‘Timure is completely gone, nothing is left’,” he told Nepal News. He said the devastation felt like an earthquake, with the market and settlement being destroyed before people's eyes.
Videos emerging on social media showed buildings, people and animals being swept away by a torrent of mud and water several feet high.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported more than 800 people missing, including at least 579 tourists. Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said nearly 300 Indian tourists were among those missing.
Most of them were travelling towards Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet and Gosainkunda in Nepal, officials said.
The floods also caused extensive damage to infrastructure, destroying or damaging 35 motorable bridges, 45 suspension bridges and around 40 km of black-topped roads, mainly in central Nepal.
As rescue teams continued their search, families were left waiting for news of loved ones amid the devastation.
