Nepal flood survivors recount escapes as death toll crosses 700

Kathmandu,UPDATED: Aug 30, 2026 13:18 IST

Flash floods that tore through northern and central Nepal on August 26 have left more than 700 people dead and around 2,500 missing, as families search hospitals and rescuers continue to dig through mud and debris amid intermittent rain and fresh worries over rising river levels.

As the search goes on, accounts from survivors have begun to emerge from the worst-hit areas, including children pulled alive from floodwaters and wreckage, people forced to spend the night in forests, and families left without homes, belongings and essential medicines.

One of them is five-year-old Ishara Tamang, who is in a hospital bed in Kathmandu after surviving the flash floods that struck Rasuwa district on the Nepal-Tibet border. She was rescued from the floodwaters in Khalte village after getting trapped in a net, Onlinekhabar reported. Ishara told hospital staff, "Mother was swept away. I jumped and moved forward, then got trapped in the net." She had been with her mother when the flood hit and was later brought to safety by rescuers.

Ishara was not accompanied by a family member at the hospital. After regaining consciousness, she told medical staff her name and said her father was in Kathmandu. Her mother's whereabouts were still unknown, the report said.

In another rescue operation in the border town of Timure, an Armed Police Force team searching the wreckage of a collapsed security post heard a child crying. According to The Kathmandu Post, rescuers dug through the debris and pulled out a six-year-old girl alive. The report, quoting a senior security official, said the team had initially been unable to see anyone beneath the collapsed structure but heard the child while searching. She was taken to the border outpost in Timure, but bad weather prevented her immediate evacuation to a hospital. Her identity was not disclosed.

At Timure, businessman Nischal Tripathi survived by running from a building as water and mud rushed through the settlement. Onlinekhabar reported that he had been in Timure for about 20 days on business and was on the fifth floor of a building when he felt it shake. He ran downstairs, jumped from around the second floor and made his way to the mountainside.

Tripathi and others then fled into the forest, where they spent the night on noodles and biscuits before moving to a goat shed. Around 150 to 200 people, along with Nepali Army personnel, had gathered there, the report said. Tripathi told the news portal that his brother, five or six members of his team and seven truck drivers were still out of contact. "Only one or two houses appear to have survived," he said.

For Rekha Devi Gosain of Trishuli Bazaar, survival has brought a different struggle. The Kathmandu Post reported that the flood swept away her home and four shops. Her vehicle, motorcycle and other belongings were also lost, and she could not save the medicines she takes for diabetes, high blood pressure and thyroid disease.

Gosain was among those staying in the area around Trishuli Hospital after the disaster, the newspaper said. Her son Raghubir told the newspaper that she had gone three days without her regular medicines because the hospital did not have them.

These survivor accounts are unfolding alongside a larger search for the missing. Over the past few days, families have gathered at hospitals with photographs and other details of relatives, checking lists and waiting for news. For many in Nepal, surviving the floods was only the first step, while the search for the missing continues.

With PTI Inputs

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