NUWAKOT, Nepal — A devastating flash flood that struck Wednesday across Nepal and Tibet has killed at least 584 people, with more than 2,480 still missing, according to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Nepal has recovered 579 bodies and counts 1,924 missing, including 517 foreign tourists. China confirmed five deaths and 558 missing. Among the missing: 65 Americans and 98 Indians.
Experts believe a massive section of glacier, roughly 16,000 feet up, may have partially collapsed, sending a wall of ice and water some 4,000 feet into the valley below — which turned rivers into torrents that swept through markets, hotels, and villages along the Trishuli River.
The flooding is the latest and most severe example of what climate scientists have long warned: shrinking mountain glaciers and permafrost thaw are creating “debris-flow” events that were once rare decades ago, now becoming seasonal, and increasingly catastrophic in the Himalayas and the Alps alike.