The death toll from catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border has passed 1,000, as rescue teams in both countries raced on Tuesday to reopen a vital highway buried under metres of mud at the Gyirong border crossing. Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said 987 people had been confirmed dead and 3,916 remained missing, while the Xizang regional government put the toll in Tibet at 16 dead and 546 missing.
Nepal-Tibet Flash Floods Latest News: Why Has The Death Toll In Nepal And Tibet Passed 1,000?
The disaster began on 26 August, when a glacier collapse near Mount Langtang Lirung sent ice, rock and mud crashing down the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi valleys, destroying the Gyirong border crossing and burying villages and bridges across nine Nepalese districts.
NDRRMA spokesperson Shanti Mahat said the flood had destroyed 35 motorable bridges and 45 suspension bridges and damaged around 40 kilometres of road. A barrier lake that formed behind flood debris near the border had raised fears of a second surge, but China’s Ministry of Water Resources said on Sunday the lake had “basically drained,” easing the immediate threat to rescue crews.
Nepal-Tibet Flash Floods Latest News: Why Is The Gyirong Highway So Central To The Rescue Effort?
On the Chinese side, restoring the G216 national highway to Gyirong Port has become the immediate priority. Norbu Tsering, deputy head of the emergency rescue headquarters and acting mayor of Xigaze City, said reopening the route remained the “top priority” for reaching trapped workers and delivering supplies, according to the state news agency Xinhua.
Nearly 700 personnel were working to clear the final stretch, which crews had narrowed to within one kilometre of the port by Tuesday morning. One rescue team member described wading through mud so deep it sapped his strength with every step, vowing, “we will not give up on any corner.”
Nepal-Tibet Flash Floods Latest News: What Is Happening On The Nepalese Side Of The Border?
In Nepal, the northern trade route connecting Syaphrubesi to the Rasuwagadhi border post, itself already under Chinese-funded reconstruction after an earlier flood, has been all but severed, with an 18-kilometre gorge section swept away entirely, according to Nepal’s Department of Roads. Shubanjan Dahal, the department’s assistant spokesperson, said officials were discussing plans to connect the road network “from a different location,” rather than rebuild along the original, flood-prone alignment. The government has declared the affected areas disaster crisis zones for three months and ordered free treatment for the injured.
Nepal-Tibet Flash Floods Latest News: What Risks Do Rescue Teams Still Face?
Rescuers on both sides of the border remain wary of fresh landslides, with Nepal’s weather service forecasting further rain in the coming days. Communications have only partly recovered; telecom operators in Xizang have restored one damaged base station and built eight new ones near Gyirong Port, allowing phone contact with rescuers at the site for the first time since the disaster struck. Hundreds of foreign nationals remain among the missing on both sides of the border, and officials in Kathmandu and Lhasa say the full scale of the disaster may not be clear until access to the worst-hit valleys is fully restored.
