The flood took everything: survivors in Nepal recount heart‑wrenching loss
More than 175 people have died and 800 others are missing after flash floods on the Nepal‑Tibet border.
Survivors tell a harrowing tale of lovers swept into the torrent’s maw, as the u‑shaped basin turned into a death‑trap. Kalpana Malla of Nuwakot could watch in horror as her father, mother, sister, and grandchildren vanished in a flash‑current that swallowed whole households.
“They could not escape the flood; there was no chance at all,” she recalled. “This flood took everything, but my son and I climbed the rooftop of a house and survived but couldn't explain how.”
Calm voices broken by grief emerged at Kathmandu’s TU Teaching Hospital, where families clutch phones that lie silent, echoing the terror of untold lost lives.
“My husband was off to Rasuwa as a part of his driving job,” said Ram Khumari Shrestha. “He was in contact with me until 8 pm yesterday, but I couldn’t call him this morning – the phone was switched off.”
Rescue crews blocked in wetlands sift through 800‑metre‑wide currents, dreaming of those still trapped. On 27 August, the disaster already only stretched the extent of livelihoods, blew away farmland and futures for families who had cultivated every crop.
In an emotional plea, trekking guide Sonam Dorjee hangs hope on a 10% chance his sister survives. “We pray her is found alive,” he said at a hospital waiting room, surrounded by those who also mourn without answers.
For now, survivors contend with uncertainty, emergency need for food, shelter and medical care, while the nation awaits the full scale of the tragedy.
Read more about the deadly Nepal‑Tibet floods here.
