Powerful Mudflow in Nepal-China Border! Many Bridge, Homes Devastating - 160 Die

A giant torrent of mud, water and ice that began high in the Himalayas tore a devastating path through a mountain valley on the border between Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, smashing buildings and sweeping away fleeing people caught by surprise by its speed and destructive force.At least 160 people were killed and hundreds more were missing after the flood, which snapped bridges into pieces and pulled multistory structures off their foundations. The deluge also engulfed dozens of men, women and children who were overtaken as they tried to run. The death toll was expected to rise. Officials in Nepal reported 157 deaths. Chinese officials reported only three deaths in the Tibet region of China, but the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said there had been “significant” casualties at the Gyirong port of entry, at the border with Nepal. As many as 391 tourists, including 291 foreigners, had been reported missing in Nepal, the country’s tourism board said in a statement. They included more than 100 people on a pilgrimage from India, a dozen Britons and at least three Americans. Citizens from Australia, the Netherlands, Malaysia and South Africa were also among the missing. Footage released by Chinese state media shows surging waters overwhelming buildings at the Gyirong port, taking out trees and making roads impassable. Floodwaters and mud crashed through Himalayan river valleys and swallowed villages on Wednesday, creating a cross-border crisis in Nepal and the Chinese territory of Tibet, with an unknown number of people swept away or buried. Thousands of people live in riverside settlements downstream from the flooding, and hundreds are dead or missing, including foreign tourists. At least 19 vehicle bridges and 40 kilometers of roads have been swept away, according to a statement from Nepal’s prime minister. The torrents rushed through the valley of the Trishuli River, which is flanked by steep mountains and straddles the border between Tibet and the Rasuwa district of Nepal. Video and images from Nepal showed the debris-choked river wiping out bridges, and towns partially buried in mud. Gyirong Port, a small town with a border crossing into Nepal, is within the Tibetan Autonomous Region, an area that the Chinese government keeps under tight control as part of efforts to quash any dissent over its control of Tibet. The authorities invested in the port, about 40 miles north of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, as part of efforts to incorporate Tibet into China’s signature Belt and Road infrastructure project, through trade with Nepal and India. Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, said the government had received preliminary information that an avalanche had occurred Wednesday morning in the affected region. Landslides in the region caused shaking intense enough to initially register as a 5.2.-magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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