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Key developments
• Rescue efforts: Crews in Nepal are racing against the clock to find anyone who survived inside hydropower tunnels after catastrophic flooding, with the effort now the government’s “highest priority.” More than 900 workers at various hydro projects are still missing.
• Devastating toll: Local police say at least 788 people died in Nepal and authorities are struggling with the large number of remains. Officials buried nearly 200 unidentified bodies as freezers ran low. Chinese authorities have reported at least 16 deaths and an estimated 3,000 people are missing across both countries.
• Survival stories: Residents are returning to ruined villages and mourning lost families. A 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.
Dozens of children reunited with their families in Nepal after floods
Dozens of children were reunited with their families or guardians this weekend, many stranded for days at school by last week’s flash floods along the China-Nepal border.
Charity organization Save the Children reunited 69 children with their families and guardians but said many little ones have been left confused after experiencing the tragedy.
“They’ve never seen a disaster of this scale,” Robin Dahal, a humanitarian coordinator for the organization in Nepal, told CNN.
Among those rescued was a 12-year-old identified as Sunita, who told a response team she had lost four of her friends.
Around 2,000 adults and 650 children were reported to be awaiting rescue as of Saturday, according to the organization’s teams on the ground, citing authorities.
"As long as there is a glimmer of hope, we will never give up," says China rescuer
Constant rain, meter-deep mud, turbulent currents and over 10 hours of rescue work every day starting from very early in the morning.
Those are some of the challenges facing Chinese rescue teams at Gyirong, the remote Chinese border post with Nepal that was devastated by last week’s catastrophic flooding.
One team member told Chinese state news agency Xinhua that the site is covered with mud and rocks, and almost all of the buildings have been flattened.
“In the deeper areas, the mud can be about one meter deep, causing you to sink almost halfway into it. Even in the shallower areas, it is generally above ankle height,” said the rescuer.
The mud and water have also made difficult for life-detection devices to function effectively, so rescuers have switched to manual methods, like calling out as they look for survivors.
Rain is complicating their efforts. “Because of the rainfall, the river level has risen significantly, and the currents are extremely turbulent, ” said another rescue member.
“Rain at night has made accommodation kind of difficult for us,” said a third person. “(But) as long as there is even a glimmer of hope, we will never give up.”
China monitors multiple hazards to rescue teams at Gyirong Port
A team tasked with probing hazards around the Gyirong Port area in Tibet identified eight “high-risk geological disaster points” for intensive monitoring as rescue efforts after Wednesday’s flooding continue.
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources on Sunday called for drone aerial surveys and manual patrols to conduct risk assessments and monitoring to provide early warning of possible collapses and landslides, according to the ministry’s official social media account.
Rescuers on both sides of the China-Nepal border have been grappling with the risks of additional flooding and landslides – complicating already perilous rescue and recovery operations in the disaster-hit areas.
A crater from a glacial collapse that triggered the disaster is “the biggest risk point” for a barrier lake created from the resulting landslide, the ministry warned on Sunday morning. Water was continuously flowing from that crater, posing risks to water-logged downstream areas, the ministry said in its latest update.
The barrier lake had caused significant concern for rescue teams in recent days. The lake has been largely emptied, the ministry added.
On Monday, weather authorities in China said there would be light rains, with showers also forecast for Tuesday.
Communication signals restored at destroyed Gyirong border post, China says
Communication signals have been restored at Gyirong, the remote Chinese border post with Nepal that was devastated by last week’s catastrophic flooding, state media Xinhua reported.
The communication director of Tibet Autonomous administrative region told Xinhua that now he could speak over the phone with rescue members at the border from a mile away.
One base station have been restored and 8 new stations have been added, it said.
Gyirong was one of the first places to be struck by the colossal wall of water, mud and rocks during last week’s tragedy with CCTV footage showing dozens of people swept away by then deluge.
Rescuing workers possibly trapped in tunnels is the "highest priority," minister says
Rescuing workers potentially trapped in tunnels at hydropower plants is now a “highest priority” for authorities, said Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, Nepal’s Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, in a post on X late Saturday night.
These include operations at Trishuli 3A and 3B plants, he said, where a massive effort is underway to bore down into some of the tunnels so a search for any further survivors can begin.
Other rescue and relief work is ongoing elsewhere too – including efforts to bring back power. It’s “not immediately possible” to restore electricity lines, so authorities are deploying hundreds of solar-power systems instead to households, Shrestha wrote.
All the while, rescuers are closely monitoring the flow of nearby rivers “and the potential risks they may pose,” he added.
Geologist: Rescuers found entrance of hydropower tunnel but still searching for survivors
Arnold Dix, a geologist in Australia with vast experience in underground rescues, has been advising teams who are trying to reach as many as 100 workers believed trapped inside the Trishuli 3A hydropower station, one of 27 such facilities damaged or destroyed in flooding along the Nepal-China border.
From his office in Melbourne, Dix has been reviewing technical drawings, satellite images and aerial videos to determine the best way to access the tunnels.
“Normally, they collapse and I’m trying to get people out. This time, they haven’t collapsed, but everything around them has, and I’m trying to get in,” he said.
The entrance to the Trishuli 3A power station was completely buried, but in the last few hours, Dix said workers had confirmed that they’ve found it – though they’re still hundreds of meters from the turbine room where survivors could be trapped.
“We don’t know how much of that tunnel is full of mud or water… So, we might only have to dig 10 meters, or we might have to dig 100 meters,” Dix told CNN on Monday local time.
He said there’s a risk the emergency shutdown systems failed and the turbine rooms filled with water.
If that happened, rescuers could potentially drown if they break through rubble that’s acting as a plug.
“Another thing we’re trying to do is to drill from the top… But that’s really difficult because we need special equipment to get through the steel and everything that’s surrounding the turbine room. So, it’s layer upon layer of technical difficulties,” Dix said.
“I think it’s quite likely that the turbine room’s intact, and certainly that’s what we’re planning on.”
He said anyone trapped inside could survive for weeks if a water supply is available.
Dix also advised the rescue of 41 Indian workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel under the Himalayas in 2023.
Around the world, people hold vigils and prayers for flood victims
People around the world held candlelight vigils and prayer sessions for the dead and missing in last week’s catastrophic flooding at the Nepal-China border.
Scale of destruction along Nepal river is "simply apocalyptic," aid group leader says
Nate Mook, CEO of nonprofit All Hands & Hearts, spoke to CNN today about the difficulties of reaching communities destroyed by flooding along the China-Nepal border.
“These areas by the border are difficult to reach by road. And right now it’s monsoon season,” he said. “And then of course so many bridges and roads have been washed out by these huge floods.”
“Our teams were visiting some of the communities and the scale of the destruction was simply apocalyptic,” he added.
Mook also spoke about the collaboration between aid groups and the Nepali government.
All Hands & Hearts has maintained a presence in Nepal since the 2015 earthquake there that killed thousands of people. Mook said that experience and the group’s presence in Nepal since then have allowed them to respond more quickly and effectively to the flooding.
“Many of our team members who lived through the 2015 earthquake, they speak about how they have lived at these displacement centers where many families are living right now,” Mook said. “And so, they’re able to go in and talk to these families. They’ve been through this trauma before.”
Candlelight vigil held in Virginia for Nepal-China flooding victims
A vigil in Fairfax, Virginia, Sunday evening honored those who died and are missing following catastrophic flooding in Nepal and China.
“We mourn those who have lost their lives, we pray for those who are still missing and we stand beside every family member who is grieving, searching and waiting for their loved ones,” one speaker said. “Tonight we gather with heavy hearts as our homeland faces this devastating tragedy.”
The candles lit during the vigil are a symbol of hope, remembrance, compassion and unity, she said.
“We may be far from Nepal, but our hearts are there,” she added.
Another speaker said his youngest son asked him about the devastating videos coming out of Nepal.
“Papa, is it AI?” he said his son asked. “We couldn’t believe those views and the nature unleashed.”
“Let’s continue to pray, let’s keep our hopes, let’s stand for one another, let’s show our support to the families who are impacted,” said Virginia State Sen. Kannan Srinivasan, who said he’s been reaching out to the State Department and various organizations in Nepal.
The vigil included a two-minute moment of silence as children held signs with messages of support.
How a glacier triggered the disaster at the Nepal-China border
As we continue to cover rescue and recovery efforts on the ground in Nepal and China, here’s a closer look at how the catastrophe started. This graphic maps the glacier’s swift descent — and the devastation that followed:
Relative describes "overwhelming" pain at a flood victim's cremation
Schoolteacher Prabita Roila was killed in the devastating floods in Nepal last week, and on Sunday her family said goodbye. At dusk, in a riverside ceremony in Nuwakot photographed by Reuters, Roila’s family cremated her remains. Onlookers watched from a nearby bridge spanning the river.
Roila’s husband was unable to attend the funeral. He was in China during the flood and was unable to leave due to extensive infrastructure damage between the two countries.
“That’s why (some) relatives from the husband’s side came from Kathmandu, they wanted to come here,” Krishna Prasad Bhatta, a relative of Roila’s, told Reuters.
Bhatta said the flooding wasn’t the family’s first time dealing with natural disasters. The earthquake of 2015 affected them, too.
“Now we’ve become flood victims again,” Bhatta said. “It’s made things very difficult for us in terms of food, but that’s another problem.”
Seven of their family members remain missing, Bhatta added. Roila is the only one who has been found.
“What should we do?” Bhatta said. “The pain is deeply overwhelming.”
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.
