Fresh flash floods leave more than 100 foreign trekkers stranded in Nepal

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More than 100 foreign trekkers were stranded after flash floods in the Budhi Gandaki river in Nepal.

Authorities said they were continuing efforts to airlift people stuck in the country’s northern and central regions after a landslide on 11 October triggered flash floods in the Gorkha district, some 100km west of the capital Kathmandu.

The floods swept away over 200 homes, destroyed five bridges and damaged camps for construction workers at three hydropower plants, sending hundreds of people running for shelter and leaving five cattle herders missing.

The disaster response management agency said its teams had rescued 321 people, including a dozen foreigners. There were no reports of fatalities.

The latest floods came less than two months after catastrophic flash flooding in the Bhote Koshi river devastated entire communities near Nepal’s border with China, killing 1,457 people and leaving over 5,300 missing.

October is one of the busiest months for trekking in Nepal and Sunday’s floods struck an area popular with hikers.

Bhuwan Raj Ojha, an official at the Manaslu Conservation Area Project that includes a popular trekking route, said more than 100 foreign trekkers were stranded in the area who could not return because the floods swept away part of the trail.

“Those hikers who want to return need to be rescued. Those who want to continue trekking can do so from locations that are safe,” Mr Ojha said. “There’re restaurants and tea houses along the route. They are safe.”

Ganesh Karki, a resident of Jagat, a village along the Manaslu circuit trek, said stranded tourists were unable to go uphill or downstream because the floods washed away the foot trail.

The Kathmandu Post reported that tourists and residents stuck in the area would likely be airlifted to safety.

Authorities said on Monday the rescued visitors, including foreigners, had been taken to nearby towns. Among them was a Chinese tourist, Weiwei Zhao, who had been trekking with a friend but turned back because of heavy snowfall.

“In the morning, we heard a very loud earthquake-like sound. Later we got to know what had happened in front of our path,” she said, referring to the landslide.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said preliminary accounts by Nepalese authorities indicated the floods were triggered by the failure of a temporary river blockage created by a landslide.

“This event is another reminder of how exposed mountain communities and river corridors remain to sudden, cascading hazards,” the centre’s director general, Pema Gyamtsho, said.

Hundreds of people displaced by the flooding were awaiting rescue and resettlement. The government said an early warning allowed most people to reach higher ground before the floods hit. However, local villagers said it was those living higher up in the mountains who warned downstream communities via phone and social media. The government’s alert, they said, arrived an hour after the floods had surged down the valley.

Authorities said trucks were carrying food, tents and medicine to communities that were accessible by road, while army helicopters were delivering aid to remote villages.

Nepal’s government last week suspended its search for victims of the 26 August floods, and said it was considering legal measures to declare the missing persons dead.

Prime minister Balendra Shah told the UN General Assembly last month that the floods were a warning about the growing risks of the climate crisis. He framed the floods as a “Himalayan tsunami”, and sought financial help for relief and reconstruction.

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