Floods, mudslides kill 400 in Nepal, China
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DEVIGHAT, Nepal (AP) -- Rescue teams and military helicopters searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous Nepal-China border, where a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities a day earlier after a glacier collapse.
Videos of the disaster showed people running before the floodwaters swallowed them up and washed out buildings and bridges. More than 390 people were killed, according to authorities in Nepal and China, and more than 1,400 were missing, including hundreds of foreigners and pilgrims. Hundreds of others have been displaced across the Himalayan region.
The steep slopes and lush valleys below the Himalayan mountain range -- home to many of the world's highest peaks and remaining glaciers -- are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides. Melting glaciers have become more common because of human-caused climate change.
Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal's 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.
Before-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, with authorities warning of a possible dam break.
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.
"I fear there won't be any update," Paudyal said.
TRUMP'S REACTION
U.S. President Donald Trump said the flooding was terrible to see, describing how "strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks."
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the U.S. spoke with Nepalese leaders and offered to provide "anything they want."
The torrential floods that ran miles through mountains 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.
Nepalese officials said dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 25 miles of roads were damaged, complicating search efforts.
The Nepalese army has rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said. Army teams also evacuated people trapped inside facilities linked to the Trishuli hydropower project, he added.
Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for medical care.
Rescuers found bodies in Chitwan district hundreds of miles downstream from the hardest-hit areas.
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 1,200 people were displaced from at least three villages.
In Tibet, the roaring mudslide that struck Wednesday engulfed a multistory port building and swallowed a bus parking lot at the land border crossing of Gyirong Port. Mud left in the surrounding areas was more than 1½ meters (5 feet) 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.
CHINA LEADER ARRIVES
China's premier, Li Qiang, arrived Thursday 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.
Chinese authorities also warned that the newly formed lake at the confluence of the Tsogyal and the Purupqiangzangbu rivers is overflowing and may burst. The lake contained 70 million cubic feetof water as of Thursday morning and was expected to receive an additional 106 million cubic feet in the next three days, China's Ministry of Water Resources said.
The ministry warned there was a high risk the dam could fail, causing further flooding.
The United Nations' humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, announced Thursday on X that he ordered the release of $2 million from the U.N.'s Central Emergency Response Fund to help with medical care, shelter and water. He called the floods "horrifying."
"We pledge to support national efforts to deliver emergency aid and support," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters.
Many people in the disaster zone waited to hear whether their loved ones were alive.
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.
"I keep looking at each helicopter, hoping he will step out of it," Shova said.
Among the missing are 517 foreigners, according to Nepal's tourism board.
They include 178 people from India, more than 60 from the U.S. and people from 30 other countries, including Ukraine, the U.K., South Africa and Japan, the board said.
Many of the missing may have been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.