Nepal flash floods leave 600 dead, 2,400 missing as rescuers race against rain

Kathmandu,UPDATED: Aug 29, 2026 16:22 IST

Nepal is reeling from devastating flash floods that swept through towns and villages on Wednesday, leaving more than 600 people dead and over 2,400 missing by Saturday. Nearly 2,500 people, including 163 foreigners, have been evacuated as rescue teams work in difficult conditions amid intermittent rainfall in the affected regions.

The floods sent water, mud and debris surging through settlements, washing away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges, and damaging hydropower projects. Across the country, families are searching hospitals, relief camps and lists of the dead for loved ones, while rescuers continue round-the-clock efforts to find survivors.

Outside hospitals, families lined up to check lists of injured people admitted for treatment, carefully going through names and photographs in the hope of finding someone they knew. When they failed to find their loved ones among the survivors, many turned with heavy hearts to another list carrying photographs of the dead.

Rescuers have been braving rain in some places and digging through drying mud in others as they search for those still missing. During the night, Nepal Home Minister Sudan Gurung monitored excavators clearing tonnes of mud at the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project site, where more than a hundred people were trapped inside a tunnel after the floods. The Nepali Army has already rescued 350 people who were trapped inside the tunnel, the online Khabar news portal reported.

The scale of the destruction was visible across villages in central Nepal, where buildings were buried under several feet of mud, vehicles lay half-submerged and roads and other infrastructure had been washed away. In Devighat village in Nuwakot district, people moved through thick mud and debris searching for their belongings. Damaged structures and uprooted electricity poles stood amid the wreckage, while vehicles remained buried in the mud.

Scenes from the affected areas showed the human cost of the disaster. A woman sat beside scattered corn, while another, carrying a child, walked past damaged buildings and a dead dog. A man carrying a gas cylinder moved through the debris-covered area, the only belonging he could salvage from the wreckage. An aerial view showed damaged structures stretching alongside a swollen river, underlining the scale of the devastation.

In Trishuli, an Army relief camp has become a key support centre for those affected. Army personnel were seen helping elderly people and children, while makeshift medical facilities treated the injured. The camps were also providing information on those missing, dead and rescued. More than 11,000 security personnel, including over 5,000 Nepal Army personnel, have been mobilised for search and rescue operations.

With Nepal's meteorology department indicating the possibility of moderate rainfall, the task facing rescuers is expected to become even more difficult. For now, the country remains focused on finding the missing, helping survivors and beginning the long process of recovery after the floods.

With PTI Inputs

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