Heavy casualties are feared after a massive flash flood and mudslide along the Tibet-Nepal border washed away villages and damaged roads and infrastructure.
The flood hit early on Wednesday in Rasuwa, just north of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. It was reportedly caused by excessive snow melting into the Bhote Koshi river that flows from Tibet to Nepal.
Twelve people have been rescued so far, and search operations are under way on both sides of the border, with several areas downstream on high alert.
State media in China, which controls Tibet, say there are significant casualties. Nepalese officials anticipate “huge scale loss” and posted videos showing floodwater crashing through villages.
Roads, communications and power in the region have been disrupted and the authorities say the main road to Kathmandu is closed.
“Our logistics company has seven container trucks there, all staffed by Nepalese employees. We have lost contact with all of them. There is no signal, so we cannot reach anyone,” Yee Liang, a Chinese businessman based in Kathmandu, told the BBC.
“As far as I know, there was no warning. There were occasional mudslides and landslides, especially in the rainy season, but this one seems much more serious.”
The extent of the damage on the Tibetan side is unclear but the BBC spoke to Guan Daoxuan in Sichuan province who said he had lost contact with his wife late on Wednesday morning.
She works for a state-run construction company involved in building roads and bridges in Tibet. Guan said Nepalese authorities had tried to send a helicopter to inspect the area because road access had been cut off, but strong winds were making it difficult for the aircraft to reach the site.
Nepal’s disaster management authority called on people living near river banks in vulnerable areas to remain alert and take precautions.
“Work has started to take necessary steps in coordination with the medical team, scouts, and Red Cross,” Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post, after holding an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation.
Authorities said 13 officers from the armed police force were missing from two posts in Rasuwa district, and they had not been able to contact dozens of other police officers.
Rasuwa saw deadly flooding last year that killed 18 people after a glacier burst on the Chinese side of the border.
Officials have told the BBC that they believe the scale of Wednesday’s disaster exceeds last year’s floods.
