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Betrawati, one of the largest settlements in the foothills of Nepal’s Rasuwa district, was a bustling township until just a few days ago. Today, nine days after the monstrous waves of the Trishuli River tore through the region, vast stretches of the town resemble a silent graveyard. Uprooted trees, collapsed buildings, heaps of mud and debris and abandoned belongings are all that remain.
As the floodwaters receded, the sheer scale of the destruction became evident. The Trishuli River, which was around 30 metres wide, swelled to more than 500 metres during the disaster, unleashing a torrent that swept away almost everything in its path.
An India Today TV team reached Betrawati after navigating a difficult route through the mountains and found little trace of the town that existed before the disaster. Schools, villages, homes, markets and temples were swept away. Large vehicles were tossed about by the raging waters as if they were toys.
The landscape appears to tell a story of near-total destruction. In many of the affected areas, there are no people in sight. Those who received sufficient warning fled towards the mountains, while the fate of those caught directly in the path of the flood remains unknown.
Amid the mud and debris left behind by the Trishuli River lies what appears to be a child's boo, a small remnant of a life that once existed here. It is impossible to know whether the child who owned it survived.
The death toll from the flash flood has now surpassed 1,200.
When the disaster struck on Wednesday, homes across Betrawati began flooding and being swept away. Yet, remarkably, some structures survived the wall of water that residents witnessed bearing down on the town.
The story of the ‘green house’ that withstood the raging waters has travelled far and wide. But Betrawati has several such ‘miracle houses’. Two more buildings stand where the river’s flow passed directly through the area. A third building behind them was completely destroyed, reduced to rubble. Yet the two buildings closer to the river survived.
The Trishuli River flowed directly behind these buildings.
Their occupants survived by climbing onto rooftops or fleeing towards the mountains before the floodwaters intensified. Those who remained on rooftops were later evacuated by rescue teams after the Air Force and other response personnel arrived.
The debris marks etched across the landscape show just how high and how forcefully the water rose. The extent of the destruction also suggests that some people, particularly those unable to move quickly, may not have managed to reach the mountains in time.
The same pattern is visible at several hotels in the area. Their lower floors have been reduced to piles of debris, while the upper portions of the buildings remain intact. Here too, residents had enough time to reach the rooftops and were subsequently rescued.
Along the riverbank, mud and debris have accumulated to depths of around 12 to 15 feet.
There is also a stark irony in the destruction. Some buildings that stood directly in the path of the river at the height of the flooding remain standing, while structures along the road, located on higher ground and seemingly safer, collapsed under the force of the water and debris.
At Ground Zero in Nepal, the devastation left by the Bhatkoshi and Trishuli rivers has transformed Betrawati from a crowded settlement into a landscape of mud, debris and ruins. Yet amid the destruction, the buildings that survived stand as stark reminders that the flood did not sweep everything away.
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Published On:
Sep 3, 2026 12:04 IST
