This handout satellite image released by Planet Labs shows an aerial view of Kolpurtar in Nepal's Nuwakot District on Aug. 12. Rescue teams rushed Thursday to find more than 1,000 people missing on the Nepal-Tibet border in flash floods and landslides that swept away entire villages. | 2026 Planet Labs PBC / AFP-JIJI
Aug 27, 2026
Scientists are rushing to understand the exact causes of the deadly flash flood that has sent a wall of mud and water tearing through Himalayan river valleys on the China-Nepal border.
What’s clear so far is that a huge chunk of a glacier collapsed and that a 5.2 magnitude seismic event occurred at around 8:37 a.m. local time Wednesday, which in turn led to a catastrophic flow of debris downstream, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
“What we’ve certainly confirmed — there was a large ice avalanche, probably a mixture of ice and rock, which detached and then became fluid and then transformed into this devastating flood,” said Simon Allen, a research associate at the University of Zurich who studies glacial hazards in the Himalayas.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information,
quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
