Nepal floods kill 669 as renewed rain hampers rescue efforts

Newdelhi,UPDATED: Aug 29, 2026 21:10 IST

Nepal's flash floods have killed 669 people, with thousands still missing as rescuers continue to recover bodies and search for survivors amid renewed rainfall, rising water levels and fears of more flooding in the Bhotekoshi river basin. The country's meteorology department has also warned of fresh rainfall and thunderstorms in flood-hit areas, raising concerns about further disruption to rescue and relief work.

As the scale of the disaster became clearer on Saturday, families searched hospitals and wreckage for their loved ones, survivors recounted desperate escapes, and support continued to arrive from within Nepal and abroad. An 11-member Indian team reached the flood-hit Trishuli area in Nuwakot district to help rescue workers trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project, while Nepal's public and private sectors pledged millions of rupees to the disaster relief fund.

The aftermath has been marked by scenes of loss across the country. 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. Among the images from the disaster were a woman carrying a child past damaged buildings and a dead dog lying in the wreckage. The image of a mud-covered elderly woman being carried to safety in the scoop of a digger has come to symbolise the accounts of survival emerging from the floods. Eyewitnesses also spoke of the terror of the disaster. In Timure market, Dipak Tamang said, "I knew I was going to die," after first thinking the ground was shaking and then seeing a wall of water, mud and stones rushing towards homes along the Bhotekoshi river.

In Galchhi in central Nepal, Sonu Adhikari said her family's home of more than two decades was lost almost instantly. "It was a matter of two minutes," she said, describing how her parents gathered important legal documents and fled in their vehicle. The destruction there reflected the wider devastation, with survivors speaking of being swept away, buried and stranded before making desperate escapes.

Nepal also acknowledged the help it has received during the crisis. The country praised India's efforts and described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "exceptionally generous". Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal expressed gratitude to the international community, including India, for the support and assistance provided after the floods. In addition to the Indian rescue team deployed to the Trishuli area, the UK sent a Rapid Deployment Team to support its 33 nationals affected by the floods, even as appeals and prayers continued from their family members, several of them British Indians. A large number of Indian pilgrims stranded in Tibet also began returning to Nepal through an alternate border point after flash floods destroyed the Gyirong border post.

The disaster has also affected areas across the border in Tibet, where the death toll from flash floods near the Nepal border rose to seven and 554 people remained missing, according to the Tibet emergency management department. With rain continuing to threaten operations, Nepal is pressing on with rescue and relief work, recovering bodies, searching for the missing and coping with the vast damage left behind by one of its worst natural disasters.

With PTI Inputs

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