Flash flood in Nepal's Gorkha strands over 100 trekkers, five people missing

Flood and rescue operation

Flash floods hit the Budhi Gandaki River in Gorkha district, about 100 km (62 miles) west of Kathmandu, on Sunday, 11 October 2026, after a predawn landslide blocked the river. The Budhi Gandaki is a tributary of the Trishuli River, downstream from another tributary where an August glacier collapse caused a catastrophic flood. National disaster authorities said the mud and debris washed away more than 200 homes, five bridges and hiking trails, and damaged three hydroelectric plants. At least 674 people were affected, and five villagers were out of contact, although no deaths had been reported as of Monday, 12 October. According to the BBC, the water level at one point rose from 2 metres to 8.5 metres within a few hours, and Reuters reported that it has since receded.

Rescues and stranded trekkers

The army rescued 321 people, including 12 foreigners, on Monday, 12 October, and said the operation would continue on Tuesday, 13 October. Earlier counts reported by EL PAÍS and de Volkskrant put the number evacuated at 95, including nine foreigners. The army's latest official update said 308 people were evacuated by air with four helicopters, and 13 were rescued by land. Bhuwan Raj Ojha, an official of the Manaslu Conservation Area Project, told Reuters on Monday, 12 October, that more than 100 foreign trekkers were stranded in different areas of the Manaslu trekking trail because part of the route had been swept away. EL PAÍS reported that damage to the trails had blocked about 155 tourists on the Manaslu routes.

Those hikers who want to return because of the flood need to be rescued. Those who want to continue their trekking can do so from locations that are safe.

Ojha added that restaurants and tea houses along the route were safe. In Jagat village, Bangladeshi trekker Md Shahadat Hossain told Anadolu that nine Bangladeshis were waiting for a possible evacuation by helicopter, and he described the conditions there.

We are safe, but there has been no electricity since yesterday, communication with the outside world has been disrupted, and food supplies are gradually running short.

The army also carried more than six tonnes (6,170 kilos) of food and emergency supplies from Kathmandu to Philim. Gorkha district authorities asked villagers living along the downstream riverbanks to evacuate.

Warnings and cause

Residents warned each other by phone and Facebook at 04:45 local time, after the flood began around 04:00 local time, according to local testimony. Witnesses told Notícias ao Minuto that the first police warning arrived at 05:30 and government SMS alerts were received only after 06:30, almost two hours after people had already moved into nearby woods. A government official acknowledged to The Kathmandu Post that the warnings came relatively late, and some regions lack automated hydrometric stations, the infrastructure needed to detect floods in time. The hydrology department admitted the delay and a lack of monitoring equipment on the upper stretch of the river, according to EL PAÍS.

Investigations by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) point to the rupture of a natural dam formed after a landslide of earth, ice and rock in high mountains. Satellite images analysed by Nepal's Hydrology and Water Resources Research Centre show a dark strip running from a peak down to a gorge, with more than 3,500 metres of descent.

Background from the August flood

The August glacier collapse flood killed 1,457 people, according to Al Jazeera, with thousands still missing. EL PAÍS put the number of people missing from that disaster at 5,285, including more than 600 foreigners, and reported at least 43 deaths on the Chinese side of the border in Tibet. The government suspended the active search for victims in early October to focus on reconstruction. A reform promulgated on Friday, 9 October, allows missing people in disasters to be declared dead after 45 days, instead of the ordinary 12-year period.

Concern over timing

SIC Notícias reported that authorities were worried because the flood took place on Dashain, a Nepali festival. The army said rescue work would continue while the water level in the river receded, leaving thousands of families in the August disaster without news of their relatives.