Nepal flood toll rises to 1,127 as rain slows search for 4,858 missing

Kathmandu,UPDATED: Sep 2, 2026 13:10 IST

The death toll from Nepal's flash floods has risen to 1,127, with rescuers still searching for 4,858 missing people a week after the disaster, police said on Wednesday. Security forces have so far rescued 6,541 people, even as continuous rain is disrupting search and rescue work in some of the worst-hit areas.

The floods, triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal. Fresh rain has added to the challenge, especially in areas affected by the Bhotekoshi flood, where authorities said rising water and difficult conditions inside project tunnels have slowed efforts to find missing workers.

According to Nepal Police, 348 more bodies were recovered from Chitwan, 217 from Nawalparasi East, 190 from Nawalparasi West and 155 from Nuwakot. Police also recovered 66 bodies from Gorkha, 59 from Dhading, 45 from Rasuwa and 38 from Tanahu.

Police said postmortem and legal identification procedures had been completed for 1,113 bodies, while 95 had been handed over to relatives. Details of 911 unidentified bodies have been uploaded to the Nepal Police website to help families identify missing relatives.

Authorities have deployed 7,912 police personnel to flood-hit areas for search and rescue operations, relief distribution and the management of recovered bodies. Police teams are also moving families from high-risk areas to safer places, clearing roads blocked by debris and coordinating search, rescue and relief work with local authorities and residents.

Meanwhile, meteorologist Rojan Lamichhane of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said there was a possibility of moderate rain in the Bhotekoshi flood-affected areas on Wednesday afternoon. He said nearby affected areas, including Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading, could also receive moderate rain. According to the department, the highest rainfall in the past 12 hours was recorded at the Nosyam Pati weather station in Sindhupalchok at 60.2 millimetres.

The department said moderate rainfall had occurred in many areas of Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces, while some parts of Koshi, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces had seen light to moderate rain. It said the weather was likely to remain generally cloudy across the country in the afternoon, with a possibility of heavy rain at a few places in the mountainous regions of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces at night.

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority Executive Chief Dharma Raj Uprety said rainwater filling a tunnel had created additional difficulties for search and rescue work in the Bhotekoshi flood-affected areas. According to Uprety, overnight rain caused water to fill the hydropower tunnel, hampering operations inside the project tunnels. Teams involving the Nepali Army, Armed Police Force, foreign technical experts and project employees have been carrying out search and rescue work, but have yet to locate the missing workers.

Former president of the Independent Power Producers' Association, Nepal, Ganesh Karki said rescue efforts had also slowed because equipment could not easily be transported to the tunnels. He said even locating the tunnel entrances had become difficult. "The material carried by the river has reached over the tunnels," Karki said. "It has become difficult even to determine the exact location of the tunnel entrances."

With the death toll continuing to rise, thousands still missing and rain affecting operations, Nepal's rescue teams remain engaged in a large-scale effort across the flood-hit areas, while authorities continue body identification, relief work and the search for missing workers trapped near the project tunnels.

With PTI Inputs

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