Nepal Flash Floods: Survivors Recount Agony of Watching Loved Ones Swept Away

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Survivors of catastrophic flash floods in Nepal described on Thursday the horrifying moments when relatives were swept away by fast-moving mud and debris, as emergency workers struggled through the wreckage of villages near the border with Tibet.

The floods tore through communities on Wednesday with such force that seismologists initially mistook the tremors for an earthquake. More than 175 people are confirmed dead, and at least 800 remain unaccounted for, according to Nepalese authorities. Rescuers waded through thick mud and piles of broken timber on Thursday as the government rushed food, medicine and other aid to the stricken region.

Kalpana Malla, a resident of Nuwakot District, told the BBC she watched her father, mother, sister and her sister's children disappear into the torrent. "They could not escape the flood; there was no chance at all," she said. "This flood took everything, but my son and I climbed the rooftop of a house and survived but couldn't explain how."

Her son, Sugam Malla, said he saved his mother by grabbing her hand. He had given his phone to his sister before the disaster so she could stay in touch, but the line is now dead. "I am worried she must be swept away," he said.

The flood also wiped away livelihoods. Goma Pandit, another survivor, said she lost her buffaloes and all of her cattle. "My farmland is also swept away. Ten sacks of mustard seeds, tons of corn and rice paddy are all gone. Nothing is left."

At Kathmandu's TU Teaching Hospital, families of the missing waited anxiously for any update. Ram Khumari Shrestha held up her phone and explained that her husband, a driver, had been on a trip to Rasuwa when the flood hit. "He was in contact with me until 8 pm yesterday. But I couldn't call him this morning. The phone was switched off," she said.

Mani Shrestha Bishwa spent Wednesday night at the hospital hoping for news of his younger brother, cousin, uncle and a friend. "I last contacted them at 8:30 in the morning," he said.

Trekking guide Sonam Dorjee, who had left his home village of Rasiwa Syafru about an hour before the flood, said he heard the rush of water while driving toward Kathmandu. "It sounded like an earthquake," he said. "My house has collapsed... I have seen a photo."

Dorjee said his sister, Dechen Tamang, her husband and several other family members are missing. He described the flood as "sudden and devastating," and appealed for emergency rescue, food, temporary shelter and medical support. "There is a 10% chance, we hope," he said, of finding his sister alive.

The disaster has cast a harsh light on the vulnerability of Himalayan settlements to flash floods. Experts say a combination of heavy monsoon rainfall, steep terrain and the growing exposure of mountain communities to extreme weather can turn narrow river valleys into deadly channels. The official death toll is expected to rise as search teams reach remote, cut-off areas where many bodies may still lie beneath the mud.