Flash Floods Sweep Away Homes and Bridges in Nepal, Five Missing

By Staff, Agencies

Powerful flash floods swept away dozens of homes and bridges in northern Nepal on Sunday, leaving at least five people missing, according to disaster authorities.

The disaster came just over a month after floods and landslides devastated the country, with more than 1,400 people reported missing or recovered.

The flooding may have followed a landslide on Saturday that blocked a river tributary before accumulated water burst through, triggering a flash flood, a Nepalese hydrology official told The Kathmandu Post.

Floodwaters reportedly swept away 35–40 houses in Gorkha District, destroyed bridges, and damaged roads and hydropower facilities. Videos circulating online appeared to show buildings washed away in a mountain valley and the Soti Khola Bridge collapsing.

Preliminary figures from Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority [NDRRMA] listed two women and three men as missing.

Meanwhile, helicopters and hundreds of security personnel were deployed for search-and-rescue operations, Radio Nepal reported. At least 82 people, including nine foreign nationals, were rescued, according to AFP, citing the NDRRMA.

The latest disaster follows the August 26 floods and landslides that struck Nepal and China’s Tibet. By late September, at least 1,451 bodies had been recovered, while 5,745 people remained missing, according to NDRRMA figures.