A flash flood triggered by a glacier collapse in Nepal’s Langtang region swept through the Trishuli valley on Wednesday, killing at least 800 people across Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, with thousands more reported missing. The disaster has left entire villages destroyed, critical infrastructure in ruins, and tens of thousands of people displaced.
In northern Nepal, Rajendra Dadabi (also spelled Dawadi), the 47-year-old head teacher of Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school, played a key role in saving more than 1,600 children when the flash flood struck. At around 9:20 a.m., Dadabi received a call from a friend upstream reporting that a nearby village had been destroyed by the surge. With roughly 900 students already at the school and another 700 en route by bus and foot, Dadabi quickly ordered all teachers to evacuate classrooms and contacted bus drivers, instructing them to turn back. While he managed to reach all but one bus driver, he spotted the final bus just as the water began entering school grounds and advised it to reverse. Moments later, the bridge the bus had just crossed collapsed.
Dadabi then organized students to flee uphill on foot, personally following the group to higher ground where they took shelter under a bodhi tree. A girl suffering a panic attack was placed on a motorbike for transport, while others ran to safety. Despite the chaos, all but one member of the staff survived. The social history teacher, 32-year-old Santos Pariyar, who had arrived early for extra classes and returned to his nearby residence to prepare breakfast, was swept away by the torrents. The school buildings were completely destroyed.
The flood was caused by a massive 20-hectare (nearly 50-acre) chunk of ice and rock that detached from the north face of Langtang Lirung peak, plunging approximately 1,200 meters into the upper gorge of the Lhende Khola river near the Nepal-Tibet border. The collapse generated a wave of water, ice, rock, and mud up to nine meters high, racing downstream at speeds reaching 80 kilometers per hour. At river bends, waters surged to heights of 70 meters, devastating villages and infrastructure including bridges, roads, hydropower plants, schools, and local clinics.
As of the latest reports, authorities have confirmed at least 669 deaths in Nepal and seven in Tibet. More than 3,700 people have been rescued, though approximately 2,400 remain missing. The number of foreign nationals unaccounted for includes 33 British citizens, among them two teenagers aged 13 and 14. Rescue efforts continue amid warnings of further flooding due to water level rises in nearby rivers and concerns about a debris dam lake formed upstream that could burst.
The Nepalese government has launched a three-year disaster recovery plan to provide shelter and rebuild critical infrastructure, but the scale of the devastation means full restoration may take several years. Approximately 10,000 people are now homeless, with 50,000 deprived of electricity, clean water, and connectivity. Damage to hydropower facilities has reduced Nepal’s grid capacity by an estimated 8%, while 38 schools and four regional clinics were damaged or destroyed, disrupting education and healthcare delivery.
Questions have been raised regarding the timing and adequacy of flood warnings. Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology claimed Chinese authorities delayed issuing alerts until after the floodwaters had crossed the border. The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu denied these accusations, calling them unfounded. The disaster occurred against the backdrop of concerns that infrastructure projects related to China’s Belt and Road Initiative may have destabilized the Himalayas, with rubble in waterways contributing to destructive debris flows.
Officials and relief workers warn that tourism, a major economic driver accounting for around 15% of Nepal’s jobs, may suffer as a result of the disaster. However, popular trekking regions such as Annapurna and Everest remain unaffected and trips there are proceeding with some itinerary adjustments.
For Dadabi, his immediate focus is on establishing temporary learning centers for affected students to continue their education and preparing for rebuilding the school at a safer location. Meanwhile, families across the region continue to search for missing relatives amid ongoing rescue and recovery operations. The disaster has prompted calls from Nepal’s foreign minister for increased global action on climate change, emphasizing Nepal’s vulnerability despite its minimal contribution to global emissions.