Nepal Flash Floods Claim Over 1,000 Lives As Rescuers Reach Remote Areas

Nepal has stepped up rescue operations in remote flood-hit areas, building temporary bridges and digging through the ruins of hydropower projects to reach stranded workers nearly a week after devastating floods swept through towns and valleys.

The disaster has killed at least 939 people, Prime Minister Balendra Shah said, while more than 11,000 people have been rescued across the affected region. About 600 people remain trapped at several hydropower stations, which have become the focus of rescue operations. Shah said power and communication lines had been restored in some areas, while road networks to Nuwakot had also been restored.

Rescue operations expand to remote areas

Rescuers have built temporary bridges to reach areas that remain cut off by the destruction. India and China, Nepal's neighbours, are assisting the operations, including by building Bailey bridges to provide access to remote affected areas.

Road networks to Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected districts, have also been restored, allowing rescue teams to reach more areas and distribute relief material, Shah said.

According to Reuters, police official Bipin Regmi said a search team recovered 24 bodies from a house in Betrabati village in Nuwakot district.

"We are reaching new areas and recovering bodies," Regmi told Reuters.

A glacier collapse triggered a deluge of ice, rock and mud that swept through Nepal's border region with China, posing a major challenge for the country's six-month-old government.

Hydropower stations remain the key focus

Shah said 279 workers had been rescued from hydropower projects so far, while authorities had estimated that close to 1,000 people were trapped at such sites.

Pictures and videos released by rescue teams showed earth-moving equipment digging through mud and rocks under lights during the night as workers watched. Soldiers used torchlight inside a large pit they had created while searching for a way into one tunnel.

Nepal has seen a boom in hydropower projects since the turn of the century as the mountainous country has sought to use its Himalayan water resources to address chronic domestic power shortages and develop opportunities to sell electricity to neighbouring India.

Hydropower projects in Nepal's mountains require tunnels to carry water through steep terrain. Developers use the sharp drop in elevation between Himalayan rivers and powerhouses to generate electricity.

Death toll and relief efforts

At least 939 people have been killed in the destruction, Shah said in a late-night social media post.

"Thousands of citizens have lost their homes, ⁠families, loved ones and property," he said.

"The government understands the immense pain they are enduring. The path ahead is to support ​them through this suffering and help them return to normal life through rehabilitation."

Shah said aid worth more than $42 million had poured into Nepal following the disaster. The government expects the contributions to increase, he said.

China links disaster to global warming

Shah said the disaster showed the growing risks faced by the Himalayan region and called for greater international attention to the effects of climate change.

"The ⁠region must ​therefore remain vigilant. The time has come for us to strongly raise before ​the international community the disasters we are experiencing as a consequence of climate change," Shah said in his post.

China's state broadcaster said on Monday that last week's flood was "caused by glacier instability under the ​long-term effects of global warming".