Images showed<\/a> what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal\u2019s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Riverbanks and village streets were covered in mud. Debris hung from tree branches and wires. Vehicles were buried, and some stunned survivors were caked in mud.<\/p>\nBefore-and-after images aired by state broadcaster China Central Television showed a multistory building and more than a dozen vehicles covered in mud. A two-lane road running along a river in a valley in Tibet’s Shigatse prefecture was completely buried. Aerial footage also showed that a lake had formed and expanded on the China-Nepal border.<\/p>\n
Nirajan Paudyal, a journalist based in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu, worried for his parents and other relatives in the district’s village of Soley.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fear there won\u2019t be any update,\u201d Paudyal said.<\/p>\n
Helicopters deployed for rescue because of damaged roads<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a-government-helicopter-conducts-a-rescue-mission-amidst-the-ACU6L4XSXFEWLGLTG24ROAXZFQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A government helicopter conducts a rescue mission amidst the devastation left by flash flooding in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, Thursday, August 27, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The disaster has left at least 389 people dead and more than 460 injured in Nepal, according to police. Another 910 people are reported to be missing in Nepal. Authorities in Tibet, an autonomous region of China, reported at least three dead and 558 missing.<\/p>\n
Nepalese officials said that dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 40 kilometres of roads were damaged, complicating search efforts.<\/p>\n
The Nepalese army has rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, army spokesperson Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet said. Army teams also evacuated people trapped inside facilities linked to the Trishuli hydropower project, he added.<\/p>\n
Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for medical care.<\/p>\n
Rescuers found bodies in Chitwan district hundreds of kilometres downstream from the hardest-hit areas.<\/p>\n
Bishal Kumar Bhandari, chairman of the Nepal Red Cross Society, said the agency has shifted its focus from rescue to large-scale relief operations in the flood-hit districts. He said that around 1200 people were displaced from at least three villages.<\/p>\n
In Tibet, a gushing mudslide that struck near the land border crossing of Gyirong Port engulfed a multistory port building and left mud in the surrounding areas that was more than 1.5 meters deep on average, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. Roads leading to the crossing were all damaged, while secondary collapses or landslides might occur as rain continued in the area, it added.<\/p>\n
China’s premier, Li Qiang, arrived in Gyirong to direct rescue efforts, alongside 500 military and paramilitary personnel. Military helicopters circled overhead, searching for survivors, assessing the disaster and mapping out possible rescue and evacuation routes.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of tourists were missing after the natural disaster swept through the border region. (Source: Reuters)<\/p>\n
Chinese authorities also warned that the newly formed lake at the confluence of the Tsogyal and the Purupqiangzangbu rivers is overflowing and may burst.<\/p>\n
The United Nations’ humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, announced that he ordered the release of US$2 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund to help with medical care, shelter and water. He called the floods \u201chorrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pledge to support national efforts to deliver emergency aid and support,\u201d UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters.<\/p>\n
More than 1300 are missing, including hundreds of foreigners<\/p>\n
![\"Damage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/damage-is-seen-in-the-aftermath-of-flash-floods-in-devighat-55K52A74ONFI3HLAQVF7D2SN6E.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Damage is seen in the aftermath of flash floods in Devighat in the Nuwakot district in Nepal, Thursday, August 27, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Many people in the disaster zone waited to hear whether their loved ones were alive.<\/p>\n
Shova Shrestha, 33, has spent more than a day seeking word of her husband, Rajan Shrestha. She said his phone rang when she first called after the floods, but it later became unreachable. Since then, she has watched every helicopter that landed in Bidur, the capital of Nuwakot district, hoping he might be among the survivors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep looking at each helicopter, hoping he will step out of it,\u201d Shova said.<\/p>\n
Among the missing are 517 foreigners, according to Nepal\u2019s tourism board.<\/p>\n
They include 178 people from India, more than 60 from the US and people from 30 other countries, including Ukraine, the UK, South Africa and Japan, the board said.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware of five New Zealanders believed to be in the impacted region. It was deploying “experienced” consular staff to Nepal.<\/p>\n
“They will join the already intensive efforts of our High Commission in India and Honorary Consul in Nepal to help New Zealanders who have been affected,” a spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
“We are still awaiting official information on whether New Zealanders have been affected. <\/p>\n
“The widespread and significant destruction is likely to mean verified information will take some time to emerge.”<\/p>\n
Consular officials are providing support to the families of those who may be affected.<\/p>\n
Many of the missing may have been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.<\/p>\n
Seventy-seven people from one pilgrimage group were caught in the floods at the immigration office at the border, according to a post on X from Indian spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.<\/p>\n
A visibly emotional Sadhguru said in a video that the group included 22 Americans and others from various countries. He said that there was no official information on their whereabouts.<\/p>\n
The US State Department said 90 Americans are unaccounted for in China and Nepal after the flood. The department said it was unaware of any US deaths and that three Americans had been rescued.<\/p>\n
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday that 288 of the country’s people, including some workers on a power project, were missing.<\/p>\n
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said that nearly 100 Chinese citizens were missing in Nepal. According to preliminary information, 260 of those missing in Tibet were foreigners, he said.<\/p>\n
A glacier collapse may have caused floods<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/people-walk-past-damage-in-the-aftermath-of-flash-floods-in-CKLMHZD6VBAHXM5HVAAFCOV4NI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
People walk past damage in the aftermath of flash floods in Devighat in the Nuwakot district in Nepal, Thursday, August 27, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The US Geological Survey first reported a magnitude 4.4 earthquake early Wednesday, about 65 kilometres north of Kathmandu, near the border.<\/p>\n
The agency later updated its analysis to say the seismic event was instead a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream.<\/p>\n
Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday\u2019s flash flood.<\/p>\n
In an emailed statement, they said water levels at one point on the Trishuli River rose by as much as 9 metres in half an hour.<\/p>\n
The increasingly unstable Himalayan ice system threatens communities, infrastructure and water supplies across one of the world\u2019s most densely populated regions.<\/p>\n
The region saw similar flash floods in August 2025, when a glacial lake in Tibet overflowed because of high temperatures. Nine people were killed, and critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting Nepal and China, was damaged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rescue teams and military helicopters searched for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border, where a deadly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2300,3092,42,1242,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-582333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-asia","tag-floods","tag-headlines","tag-natural-disasters","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}