Nepal floods: ‘We are disconnected from Kathmandu’

Scientists are warning more flooding is possible in the coming days – Image: Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo/picture alliance

DW spoke with people from the Nepali regions devastated by flash floods about the fates of their family members, with a government minister warning that the state was not ready for a disaster of such magnitude.

With the death toll in Nepal well into the hundreds and rising following a massive flash flood on Wednesday, the full scope of destruction remains unclear.

People from the affected areas told DW that many villages remain both physically and electronically cut off from the capital, Kathmandu.

Bidhya Rajput, a journalist based in the capital, said her home in the Sole village in Nepal‘s Nuwakot District was swept away by the Trisuli River.

“As far as we know, only four or five people from Sole village could save their lives by fleeing towards the hills. Others couldn’t make their way as the floods came up suddenly,” she told DW.

The government has declared Nuwakot, along with Rasuwa and Dhading districts, to be the most affected by the deadly floods.

Rajput told DW her husband’s parents remain missing. Her father-in-law, a teacher, may have been caught in the flood while returning home after work, according to the school principal.

Rajput’s husband has left for the village in search for news on his family members, despite the roads being damaged and swept away in many places. Rajput said that there are no further updates from the village as there has been no electricity or mobile communication since early morning on Thursday.

Nepal’s officials say dozens of bridges have been swept away by floods – Image: Navesh Chitrakar/REUTERS

“The state’s rescue and relief efforts have been centered mostly on bigger cities,” she said, adding that “state assistance is yet to reach Sole.”

Villagers said the same area was affected by flooding last year, but many villagers managed to get to higher ground and the water did not reach as high as on Tuesday.

“Had the villagers received early warning information, [and] could have presumed that this time floods would be so massive, they could have fled to safe locations like last year,” Rajput said. “This time, they couldn’t get even that chance.”

‘Two of my close relatives are missing’

But Usha Kiran Timsena, an opposition politician from Nuwakot, said police and local officials did issue a warning that a massive flood was coming. However, many people in the area simply didn’t account for the scale and speed of the mass of water.

“Many those who were a bit far from riversides took it lightly and couldn’t flee once the flood reaches to their places,” she told DW.

“Two of my close relatives have been missing since yesterday morning. There has been no further update or contact since then.”

Authorities said that more than three dozen bridges, including vehicular and suspension bridges, as well as a dozen hydropower dams, have been destroyed by the floods.

Sujan Lohani from Dhading told DW that he never imagined that the flooding and destruction caused by the Trishuli River could be so massive and widespread.

The main bridge over the Trishuli River, connecting his district headquarters with the capital Kathmandu, has been swept away.

“I am worried that my cousin is now in the village,” he told DW. “We are disconnected from Kathmandu.”

Rescue teams were scrambling to reach survivors with entire villages wiped out – Image: Navesh Chitrakar/REUTERS

Hundreds of flood survivors airlifted from affected areas

Nepal’s authorities are racing to reach survivors in the affected areas. With over a 1,300 people still missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals, as of Thursday, Nepal’s neighbors India and China are coordinating with Kathmandu on the disaster response.

Rescue teams are airlifting stranded and injured people to the capital, while police, military and ordinary citizens are building temporary shelters for the displaced.

“We are putting our all-out efforts to rescue people alive,” Nepal’s Minister for Information and Communication Bikram Timilsina told DW.

Timilsina represents the flood-hit Nuwakot-1 constituency in the House of Representatives and is currently in the affected region. He described the destruction as enormous

“Entire villages have been swept away. Many have tragically lost their lives. Many are out of contact,” he said.

“I don’t think our state mechanism had ever imagined a flood and disaster of such magnitude,” Timilsina said.

At the same time, Timilsina noted said the state has mobilized all its resources, including more than a dozen helicopters, to transport survivors to safety and deliver aid. At least 414 stranded people, including 164 foreigners were airlifted by mid-day Thursday, according to the minister.

What do experts say about the cause of the floods?

Scientists are still debating the exact cause of the natural disaster, despite Beijing claiming it was triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse.

Sudip Thakuri, a climate scientist and associate professor at Central Department of Environmental Science at Nepal’s Tribhuvan University, told DW that preliminary assessments indicate the flood was likely triggered by an avalanche on the Nepali side of the Nepal-China border.

“So far, what we have concluded is that a massive avalanche initially blocked a river flowing southwards from the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. Once the avalanche-created landslide dam burst, it might also have swept away a subglacial lake downstream, triggering massive flooding,” he said.

Another climate scientist, Rijan Raj Kayastha, who teaches at Kathmandu University, warned of the possibility of further flooding due to other glacial lakes in the area.

Separately, Chinese authorities also warned that another lake in Tibet’s Gyirong, upstream from the flooded area in Nepal, was already overflowing and that another 3 millions of tons of water were expected to enter the lake over the next three days.