Nepal floods kill 626 as fresh rain threatens rescue efforts

Newdelhi,UPDATED: Aug 29, 2026 17:24 IST

Nepal's flash floods have killed 626 people, and rescue teams were continuing search and relief operations in a race against time on Saturday as authorities warned of fresh rain and thunderstorms in the affected areas. The weather threat has raised concerns over disruption to rescue work in a crisis that has also left nearly 2,000 people missing.

As the scale of the disaster became clearer, Nepal praised India's efforts to help it in times of crisis and described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "exceptionally generous". An 11-member Indian team arrived to assist local authorities, while donations to the Nepal Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund crossed Rs 2.295 billion in three days.

Across flood-hit areas, people lined up outside hospitals, looking through photographs of the dead pasted on walls. Families waded through mud and debris in search of their belongings, while one woman carried a child past damaged buildings and a dead dog lay amid the wreckage.

The image of a mud-covered elderly woman being carried to safety in the scoop of a digger came to symbolise several survival stories after people were swept away, buried and stranded.

Eyewitnesses recalled the terror of the flooding, with survivors saying, "I knew I was going to die." Dipak Tamang said he first thought the ground was shaking before he saw a wall of water, mud and stones racing towards houses along the Bhotekoshi river in Timure market and realised there was nowhere to go but up.

Nepal's meteorology department warned on Saturday of fresh rainfall and thunderstorms in flood-hit areas, according to a media report, adding to fears that rescue and relief operations could be hampered. At the same time, more than Rs 2.295 billion had been donated to the disaster relief fund since the flash floods struck the country.

The crisis has also had an international dimension. A large number of Indian pilgrims stranded in Tibet began returning to Nepal on Saturday through an alternate border point after massive flash floods destroyed the Gyirong border post. In Tibet near the Nepal border, the death toll rose to seven, with 554 people still missing, according to the Tibet emergency management department.

The UK said it had sent a Rapid Deployment Team to Nepal to support 33 of its nationals affected by the floods, even as appeals and prayers continued by their family members, several of them British Indians.

With more rain forecast, Nepal is continuing rescue and relief work as families search for loved ones, foreign teams assist on the ground and the disaster's impact is being felt on both sides of the Nepal-Tibet border.

With PTI Inputs

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