We travelled to 'ground zero' of Nepal's devastating flash flood

NextWave News
NextWave News
Sep 8, 2026

We've headed by helicopter up the Trishuli Valley where the disaster first struck Nepal last month.

All around us, towns and villages were destroyed. We journeyed up as far as we were advised to fly, to the border of China and Nepal.

In the distance was where China's six-storey border complex used to stand. The Chinese five-star red flag was flying high as diggers worked away.

It was once a bustling border town, but all traces of its existence are now washed away. We landed to take a closer look and could see the recovery work underway on the Chinese side.

You may remember the CCTV footage in the early hours of this disaster, which brought home the scale of what this country was facing. But the power of this water and the glacial debris that was travelling with it is now visible from the ground.

The watermark reaches nearly 200 metres or so off the ground - a clear indication of the force of what was travelling down here.

We followed the path of destruction down into the valley, where communities that once depended on this land have now disappeared. Only a handful of buildings remain, barely standing amid the devastation.

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