Here's the latest
• Rescue efforts: Some of the most difficult operations still underway in Nepal are focused on finding more than 900 missing hydropower workers. Crews are racing against the clock to find anyone who survived inside complex tunnels during Wednesday’s catastrophic flooding.
• Devastating toll: Local police say at least 788 people died in Nepal, while Chinese authorities have reported at least 16 deaths. An estimated 3,000 people are missing across both countries, including Americans and other foreign nationals.
• Survival stories: Residents who escaped the deluge are returning to ruined villages and mourning lost families. A 6-year-old girl was reunited with her parents after a dramatic rescue. And students at one school narrowly avoided disaster because they left class for lunch.
• Risks remain: A landslide created a new barrier lake and hampered rescue efforts in China. A river in Nepal has swelled as it is choked by debris.
More survival stories emerge as search for the missing continues. Catch up here
As search and rescue teams scour flood-devastated areas for the thousands of people still missing in Nepal and China, photos, videos and stories are emerging of unlikely survivors and the precarious, high-stakes operations undertaken to save them.
The flooding death toll has risen to at least 788 in Nepal, police said today, while Chinese authorities have reported at least 16 deaths.
Rescue workers from the region and international teams are racing against the clock to recover more survivors in the face of difficult post-flood conditions and lingering risks.
Here’s a recap of our latest updates:
• 6-year-old girl reunited with parents: A young girl who paramedics rescued on Friday in northern Nepal is now with her mother and father, her aunt told police. Manisha Magar was airlifted to Kathmandu following treatment, having been trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings for 60 hours before being found.
• Students narrowly escape: In one of the worst-hit areas, a group of schoolchildren in Nepal managed to survive after they happened to leave their classroom for lunch break just in time, the Associated Press reports. Children attending other classes at the school in Dhading also escaped because teachers told them to evacuate shortly before the waters came crashing in.
• Hydropower workers: Some 279 workers from various projects, including several who spoke to CNN, have been rescued or managed to trudge their way out of the mud and silt-riddled tunnels on their own. But more than 900 workers are among those still missing, and the ongoing rescue operations at hydropower sites are some of the country’s most challenging.
• Dozens of Americans missing: At least 85 Americans are among the more than 3,000 people missing across China and Nepal, according to the US State Department. Nine Americans have been safely evacuated, a department spokesperson said Sunday morning.
• Important rescue access restored: A vital roadway to Rasuwa, one of the areas hardest hit by the flooding in Nepal, has been opened today, giving aid groups desperately needed ground access, said David Fisher, who heads the Nepal delegation for the International Federation of the Red Cross.
• Bodies buried in forest: Officials in southern Nepal were forced to lay 199 unidentified bodies to rest in the middle of a forest over recent days, according to police, after medical stocks to preserve the remains for DNA testing dwindled. The remains were among 272 bodies recovered after being swept south from Tibet toward a district in Nepal that borders India, a local police inspector told CNN on Sunday.
73-year-old “adventurer” on bucket list trip among Americans missing, daughter says
A 73-year-old “adventurer” on a bucket list trip visiting holy sites is among the Americans missing in Nepal after catastrophic flooding in China and Nepal, his daughter told CNN.
Kesava Rao Tadipatri was on a recreational hike with a group in Nepal that was on its way to Tibet when the tremors started, his daughter Ramya Tadipatri, said.
Tadipatri saw a photo of her father that was taken around that time, and even received a WhatsApp message from him before there was a communication blackout. That was the last time Ramya Tadipatri and her family heard from her father.
“It’s a lot of unknowns, a lot of possibilities,” Ramya Tadipatri told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield.
Her mother has been in contact with the US Embassy and the family members of others in the hiking group.
“They’ve been just actively reaching out and trying to get information,” she said
Ramya Tadipatri described her father as a spiritual guru and guide for the Hindu community who has been married for more than 30 years.
He’s also someone who will do anything he sets his mind to, like hiking in Sedona with his daughter and her husband or running a marathon.
“We’re all handling this the best that we can,” Ramya Tadipatri said. “Obviously shocked and worried, and my mom probably handling it better than the rest of us.”
Road access reestablished for area devastated by flooding, Red Cross official says
A vital roadway to one of the areas hardest hit by the flooding in Nepal has been opened today, giving rescue teams desperately needed ground access, said David Fisher, who heads the Nepal delegation for the International Federation of the Red Cross.
The road is between the Nuwakot district and Rasuwa, a region on the Nepal-China border that saw a massive wall of water obliterate roads, customs buildings and everything else in its path Wednesday morning.
The region had been only accessible by helicopter until now, Fisher told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield.
A Red Cross team spent 12 hours working to access the area Sunday and will begin making aid deliveries and assessments of the area, Fisher said. “There’s so much more that’s needed,” he added.
Fisher also stressed the need for a rapid response and temporary shelter to support survivors found in areas like Rasuwa.
Atlanta Nepali community holds candlelight vigil, raises nearly $14,000 for flood victims
Candles flickered in the Nepali Cultural Center in Atlanta as around 150 members of the Nepali community gathered to mourn those killed and affected by devastating floods in Nepal and to raise support for families facing the aftermath.
“Every cent counts to help those who have been made homeless by this disaster. Please help as much as you can,” Raju Thapa, president of the Nepali Cultural Center, told the crowd.
Among those contributing was 12-year-old Regina Thapa, who donated $51 she had raised by selling ice cream at another event.
Her donation was one of many contributions from the Atlanta Nepali community, which has raised nearly $14,000 for flood relief. Much of the money was raised during a benefit concert on Friday featuring legendary Nepali band Kandara and organized by B&M Events.
“The recent flooding has hit Nepal hard, and the Atlanta Nepali community has responded,” Birendra KC, president of the Nepali Association of Georgia (NAG), told CNN. There is an estimate of 5,000 Nepalis living in the Atlanta metro-area, according to the Pew Research Center.
“Today’s vigil at the Nepali Cultural Center is our way of grieving together and pushing this relief effort forward,” he added.
NAG’s Treasurer Biswas Thapa transferred the collected donations to the Nepal Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund live at the event.
India sends forensic scientists to Nepal to help identify remains
India has deployed a team of forensic scientists to Nepal to help identify victim remains in the aftermath of last week’s deadly floods.
The 19-person team “will help augment the analysis of DNA samples …for identification of the mortal remains of the victims,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. The scientists met with their Nepali Police counterparts in Kathmandu on Sunday.
The arrival of the Indian team may help speed efforts to identify flood victims. Limited freezer space, a lack of medical equipment and the natural course of decomposition have all complicated the identification process in recent days.
Students at Nepali school survived floods by leaving class for lunch
In one of the areas worst hit by Wednesday’s catastrophic floods in Nepal, a group of schoolchildren managed to survive when they happened to leave their classroom for their lunch break.
Children attending other classes at the school in Dhading also escaped because teachers told them to quickly evacuate their classrooms shortly before the waters came crashing in.
Shrestha was among mothers and children who began to return to their school on Sunday to find the kids’ belongings and see what could be salvaged. The majority of the children at the school appeared to have survived the floods, the families said.
Thick brown and gray mud coated the surfaces of school benches, walls and notebooks while the school’s courtyard was filled with sediment. Lines on the walls showed how high the water rapidly rose. A pile of small mud-caked backpacks, some with colorful key chains, were on the benches and floors, waiting to be claimed.
Kopila Mizar, the mother of a student, was unable to find her son’s backpack, but remained positive.
“My son is alive, that is my biggest happiness,” she said.
6-year-old Nepali girl reunited with parents days after dramatic rescue
A young girl who paramedics retrieved from the rubble in northern Nepal on Friday is now with her mother and father, her aunt told police, days after deadly flooding wiped out stretches of the Himalayan nation.
Manisha Magar was airlifted to Kathmandu following treatment at a health clinic in the district of Rasuwa, having initially been trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings for 60 hours, Nepal’s Armed Police Force said on Sunday.
Nepali police official Sohan Gurung posted a video on social media in which the girl’s aunt, Gita Uchae, tells him, “The child is with her father and mother.” CNN has reached out to the police for comment.
The child’s mother and father were rescued a day after the floods, the Deputy Inspector General of Police Netra Bahadur Karki told CNN.
Officers happened upon Manisha some 200 meters (656 feet) down from an outpost in the small town of Timure, where her family was living to accommodate her mother’s job at the Global IME Bank.
Rescue footage released by the police force earlier this week showed staffers cradling Manisha, who was caked in a layer of dust, her black hair matted with debris. In another clip, Nepali paramedics could be seen gently feeding her as she was swaddled in a thick blanket.
Nearly 200 unidentified bodies buried in woodland as freezers run low, Nepali police say
Officials in southern Nepal were forced to lay 199 unidentified bodies to rest in the middle of a forest over recent days, according to police, after medical stocks to preserve the remains for DNA testing dwindled.
In total, rescue crews had recovered 272 unidentified bodies originating from Tibet, an autonomous region of China, following lethal torrents in the Himalayan region that washed away entire villages and sank towns under debris and mud.
The remains swept south down toward Chitwan, a district in Nepal that borders India, a local police inspector, Anil Thapa, told CNN on Sunday. Emergency workers retrieved the dozens of bodies along the riverbanks of southern plains.
“Bodies are still being recovered. But we want to manage those dead bodies to avoid the risk of fast decomposition,” said Thapa. The lack of DNA collection equipment ultimately delayed the burial process, he added.
Paramedics have been searching landslide-stricken neighborhoods for days, with Nepal’s government bringing in international assistance to beef up operations on the ground. Earlier on Sunday, a police official in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, warned that mud-filled sludge was hampering rescue work, telling China’s state broadcaster CCTV that heavy rainfall was adding to the quagmire.
CNN’s Jared Formanek contributed reporting.
Massachusetts man who flew to Nepal to search for his missing wife is joined by friend
Some Americans who have loved ones missing after disastrous flooding in India and Nepal have found it too difficult to remain home while their friends and family remain unaccounted for.
Sanjeev Rai traveled to Nepal from his home in Lexington, Massachusetts, to try to find his wife, Jyoti Rai, who, according to CNN affiliate WCVB, was in Nepal on a spiritual pilgrimage for her 50th birthday when the floods hit.
Family friend Manmeet Singh Meet flew out Saturday to join him in the search, WCVB reported.
“He’s overwhelmed. You call him and you can hear him crying,” Singh Meet told the station.
He said it is the least he could do for his friend of over 15 years.
“There are relationships beyond love, beyond friendship. Sometimes, you are so well connected with each other, with your families and everything. There are no ifs and buts. You don’t think twice. You just go and you know you’re there for each other.”
At least 85 Americans are among those unaccounted for in the disaster as of Sunday morning, the US State Department said.
Italian flood survivors blame climate change and express sympathy for Nepalis
An Italian couple who survived the flood in Nepal said that they believe climate change was to blame for the disaster.
“For me, it was a clear message from nature that we passed a limit,” 37-year-old Valentina Piccinini said.
“We don’t respect the nature,” her partner Stefano Lutumolo, 39, said. “This what’s gonna happen, it’s gonna be more and more.”
“We are already too late, maybe,” he added.
The couple was on a trekking tour at the border crossing between China and Nepal, and only survived because their local tour guide Tashi Tamang got them up the hill to safety in time.
Lutumolo said they spent a night huddled on the mountains with local survivors, waiting for rescue.
“There were no difference between Italians, Nepali. We were just human beings, survivor,” he added. “(The Nepalis) lost everything, people, houses. They had nothing left.”
Some context: Scientists are still determining the exact causes of the devastating flooding, and say there is still work to be done to establish exactly what happened and what made the flooding so deadly.
We do know so far that the disaster began when a vast chunk of glacier sheared off a mountainside.
At least 85 Americans among those unaccounted for in Nepal-China floods, US official says
Americans are among the more than 3,000 people missing across China and Nepal after Wednesday’s catastrophic flooding, the US State Department said Sunday morning.
“As of 6 a.m. this morning, I can say we now have 85 Americans, approximately, that are unaccounted for,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on ABC. “We’ve also now seen nine Americans be safely evacuated.”
There are no reports of U.S. citizen deaths, Pigott said but noted the remoteness of the area makes getting reliable intelligence difficult.
“The highest priority, getting accurate information from the region, a hard region to reach at the best of times, made even more so by the devastation and the remoteness that we see,” Pigott said, explaining the fluctuation in numbers as the tragedy has unfolded.
Displaced survivors face threat of renewed flooding as water levels rise. Catch up
The death toll from last week’s flooding along the Nepal-China border has risen to nearly 790, local police reported on Sunday, as more firsthand accounts from survivors and emergency crews emerge.
Nepal’s government has deployed international assistance to strengthen rescue operations, with the full scale of destruction still unknown.
Here’s what you need to know:
Unpredictable conditions
- Rising water levels: The flow of water in the Bhote Koshi River, a debris-choked stream in Rasuwa, northern Nepal, was increasing early Sunday local time, regional authorities said. On Saturday, a separate landslide formed a new barrier lake on a river near the China-Nepal border. Weather officials have warned that newly formed bodies of water could raise the risk of renewed torrents.
Rescue and relief efforts
- Missing industrial workers: A search is underway for more than 900 missing workers at various hydropower projects in Nepal, and we’re learning more about the harrowing stories of those who escaped. Loved ones told CNN they are clinging to hope as they await updates on the missing. Abhishek Khatiwada said he and his loved ones “remain hopeful and are praying for their safe return.”
- Clean water shortages: Residents in Nepal need clean water to prevent the spread of disease, according to a senior relief worker, who cited the risk of outbreak from “decayed bodies and animals.” In the short term, families must be able to access electricity and essential supplies, said Sudarshan Neupane, the country director of WaterAid Nepal.
Survivors’ stories
- Woman in Nepal mourns 17 relatives: Kopila Tamang, a 20-year-old resident in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, described trying to care for her seven-year-old brother after their mother, sister, grandmother and 14 other relatives were killed by the colossal landslides. “I feel so alone,” Tamang told CNN.
- “Father where are you?”: Further north, in Devighat, Sumit Nepal was rooting through his home to find mementos of his missing father — 42-year-old Navaraj — who is one of thousands of people missing. Layers of mud have covered his family home, with clothes, food packets and plush toys strewn about. “There was nothing left,” Nepal told CNN.
CNN’s Bhadra Sharma, Laura Sharman, Rebecca Wright, Will Ripley, John Mees and Kosh Raj Koirala contributed reporting.
Police in Nepal say at least 788 people now confirmed dead
At least 788 people have been killed in Nepal following huge torrents along the Nepal-China border on Wednesday, according to local police.
As of Sunday evening local time, 2,742 people had been injured, Nepal Police said.
Poster wall at Kathmandu hospital shows missing people, and the number is growing
At the T.U. Teaching Hospital in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, the wall outside is now covered with hundreds of posters of missing people — a haunting reminder of the immense scale of the flooding disaster.
As of Sunday afternoon local time, more than 2,000 names of those missing have been registered, according to police at the help desk outside the hospital.
Families have been flying into Kathmandu from around the world to try to ramp up the search for their relatives.
A CNN team on the ground witnessed how the wall was so tightly packed with photos – that some people had to scale it to find space to add their posters.
Death toll in Nepal from floods and landslides climbs above 760
The death toll from severe flooding along the Nepal-China border on Wednesday has climbed to 762 in Nepal, local police said, as rescue crews scour devastated neighborhoods for survivors.
As of Sunday afternoon local time, 2,715 people had been injured, Nepali police said.
In pictures: Aftermath of flooding in Nepal, as death toll passes 700
Nepali flood survivors have begun returning to mud-covered homes to search for their belongings
Meanwhile, as we’ve been reporting today, relatives of those missing are still desperately searching for updates on their loved ones.
Here are some of the latest images from Nepal.
Families of engineers trapped in tunnel share their last known whereabouts
Relatives of people believed trapped in a tunnel at one of several hydropower plants hit in the China-Nepal border floods on Wednesday remain hopeful of positive news.
Two of those still missing, mechanical engineers Rajendra Dhakal and Aavash Neupane, were last seen at the Trishuli-3A site in Nepal, where rescuers have worked through the night.
The pair are among more than 930 workers unaccounted for at various hydropower projects in the country’s flood zone.
Neupane’s cousin Sadikshya Pandey was at work when she learnt he was missing.
“On my break I was scrolling through my phone and saw devastating news,” she told CNN.
“My sister tried to ring him around 10am. The number said out of reach and she tried again around 11am and the phone was switched off.”
The family believes Neupane was working at his office when disaster struck and are still optimistic for his return. “Families are losing hope but I still believe my cousin is out there awaiting help. I wish he come back home soon and safe,” Pandey added.
Abhishek Khatiwada believes his missing cousin, Rajendra Dhakal, is also inside the project’s tunnel network –– which stretches more than four kilometers, according to documents from the Nepal Electricity Authority.
“As of now, Rajendra is still out of contact and we believe he is inside the tunnel along with 35 plus other human lives,” Khatiwada told CNN.
“The authorities are making every possible effort to excavate the tunnel and are trying different approaches to reach them. I, along with all our family members, remain hopeful and are praying for their safe rescue.”
"I feel so lost": Woman in Nepal loses 17 family members in flooding
Kopila Tamang’s family survived the devastating Nepal earthquake in 2015, but their home was destroyed.
This time, the floods took a newly-built house along with 17 members of her family.
“I feel so alone,” Tamang tells CNN. “I feel so lost.”
Tamang – who is from one of the worst-hit areas in Rasuwa – was in Kathmandu when the flooding hit, and rushed back to the mountains when she heard what happened.
The 20-year-old lost her mother, sister and grandmother – along with other relatives including a one-month old nephew. Now, all she has left are the photos of them on her phone.
Her seven-year-old brother is too young to understand what happened, she said, and still believes their mother will return.
“He’s so little,” she said. “He thinks she will come back.”
“Now, I am the mother for him, so I have to be strong,” she said.
Her cousin, 17-year-old Subba Tamang, lost his two little sisters, one-year-old Anjana and five-year-old Archana.
“It’s really hard to believe that I lost my siblings,” he said. “They are buried too young.”
He is now sleeping on a rooftop of an unfinished building in Bidur, with 50 other displaced men and boys.
“Many people cry here at night, remembering their family members,” he said. “It’s very hard to sleep here.”
Along with the overwhelming grief, the displaced families are also living in fear of another flood, and at nights they often flee up higher into the forest when they hear warnings that more floods are coming.
"I only have the clothes I'm wearing," Nepal resident in shelter says
Alongside the Trishuli River in the town of Bidur, 40 homes from one riverside community were washed away in Wednesday’s catastrophic flooding.
The 200 people living there managed to run up the hill to safety, with minutes to spare. But now they face an uncertain future.
One of those made homeless, 39-year-old Ganga Maya Tamang, is now living in a makeshift shelter on higher ground.
“We lost everything in the flood,” Tamang told CNN. “I only have the clothes I’m wearing.”
Around 100 women and children are staying in a building normally used as a yoga center, repurposing the yoga mats to sleep on.
Under the constant churn of relief helicopters from overhead, the families in this community are now reliant on aid arriving from the capital Kathmandu to survive.
The water system in Bidur was completely destroyed, so they are collecting water in buckets and bottles from truck deliveries.
Landslide forms new barrier lake near China-Nepal border
A landslide yesterday formed a new barrier lake on a river near the China-Nepal border, prompting rescue personnel near the Gyirong Port to evacuate, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
A monitoring drone detected the landslide on a mountain slope about 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) downstream from an existing barrier lake on the Purepu Tsangpo River, according to China’s Ministry of Emergency Management.
The latest landslide created a new blockage in the river and formed another barrier lake, authorities said.
