Nepal flood death toll surpasses 600, with more than 3,000 missing, as poor weather hampers rescues

The death toll from Wednesday’s devastating flash floods in Nepal and along the border with China has risen above 600, with around 3,000 people still missing, as rescue operations entered their fourth day.

Poor weather is currently hampering aerial rescue operations for the workers and military personnel who have been working around the clock since Wednesday to find survivors in the mud. Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, a Nepali Army spokesperson, said Saturday that helicopter operations were on hold until weather conditions improved.

Basnet said authorities believe more than 100 people are trapped in a tunnel filled with thick mud at a hydropower construction site in Nepal’s Rasuwa district. In a video from the scene, rescuers pulled and push a man covered in dark brown mud out of the tunnel. He was one of dozens who were likely trapped inside. A helicopter carrying a basket was used to reach some people but the operation was slowed down by the 4 to 5 feet of mud and limited landing areas.

Nepali and Chinese authorities warned of further risk of flooding from a new lake that has formed upstream following Wednesday’s disaster, telling people in the potentially affected areas to move to safer ground. The risk of another flash flood has also forced rescue teams to relocate temporarily, with experts warning that the lake was starting to overflow.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far, according to authorities there, while China’s state media said 558 people were missing on the Chinese side. Hundreds of the missing are foreigners who were in the area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak on the Tibet side of the border.

The Red Cross said Friday that some 90,000 people had likely been impacted by the flooding, which is believed to have been triggered by the collapse of a rocky ledge and the vast portion of a glacier it had supported.

What caused the flash floods?

Scientists said satellite images indicated that bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was so extreme that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event. 

The rocks and melted water suddenly swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing torrents of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.

Scientists were still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to confirm exactly what caused the flood, but Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria who is currently based in Bangladesh, said “a lower part of a glacier has really come off.”

The Hindu Kush Himalayan region is warming rapidly, driving major changes in glaciers, snow cover, permafrost and mountain slopes, according to climate scientists.

Around 78% of the glacier area, located between about 14,760 and 19,685 feet above sea level, is highly exposed to warming.

“What happened yesterday is unfortunately the new normal. It’s going to get worse from here onwards,” Steiner said.

Americans among the missing

Five Americans have made their way to safety, and around 90 are among those unaccounted for, the U.S. State Department said Friday. 

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Nepal said the U.S. was “delivering a range of supplies requested by the Government of Nepal and is working with Nepal to ensure that assistance reaches the people who need it.” 

“Catholic Relief Services, working through implementing partner Caritas Nepal, will deliver more than 2.5 metric tons of food supplies, 500 blankets, 500 mosquito nets, and 500 insulating foam sheets for temporary shelter flooring to two school locations in Rasuwa,” the embassy said, noting plans for subsequent supply shipments were already in place.

22 people from the U.S. were among the 80 who went missing from a pilgrimage run by the Isha Foundation, a volunteer-run group that promotes well-being founded by Indian spiritual leader Sadhguru Vasudev.

“At this point we are awaiting word,” community liaison Leslie Crespi, said in a phone interview from McMinnville, Tennessee, of the missing pilgrims. “We have done as much outreach as we can through the State Department, through the embassy.”

The 22 missing Americans were all adults, and included 13 women and nine men, the foundation later said in data it provided to CBS News. She said the Isha Foundation has organized pilgrimages for 21 years, and “in those 21 years, we have never lost a life.” 

U.S. citizen Deepak Dandu said his wife, Sridevi Vejella, was among those missing in Nepal. She was on the pilgrimage with the Isha Foundation to Mount Kailash in Tibet — a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others — which he said was a “lifelong dream” for her. 

He told CBS News she was crossing from China into Nepal when the flood hit. The foundation told him she was part of a group that was present at the Gyirong Port immigration complex.

President Trump called the flooding terrible to see on Thursday, saying that “strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks.”

He told reporters in the Oval Office that U.S. officials had spoken with Nepalese leaders and offered to provide “anything they want.”