Stunning new images have emerged from Nepal showing the raw power of flash floods that caused devastation in Nepal on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people have died or are missing as a result of the disastrous tsunami-like floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, which engulfed entire villages and swept away bridges.
Emergency services have so far recovered the bodies of at least 332 people, while more than 800 people are missing.
In Chinese-controlled Tibet, officials say 558 people are still missing, while three have been found dead. It is currently not clear how many of these people overlap with the numbers reported by Nepal.
Many of the survivors managed to capture images of the devastation caused by the floods.
One video shows a wild river of rushing water flowing through a town in a valley. A huge boulder was caught in the deep, muddy water and slowly rolled along. Shocked onlookers filmed the huge rock as it drove past their homes.
Shocked onlookers filmed the huge boulder as it drove past their homes, pushed by the strong flowing water
Dozens of men in hazmat jackets and hard hats fled in panic as they watched the mass of water rush through a valley
As the stream of water flowed down the river, the spectators screamed in fear as it came rushing towards them
Houses lie partially submerged in muddy water along a river after flash floods in Trishuli Bazar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 26
Military personnel rescue a man trapped in mud and stranded by massive floods and landslides along the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26.
Another terrifying clip showed him petrified men in safety jackets and hard hats running for their lives to escape the floodwaters rushing towards them.
A reckless man who had stopped to film the flooding quickly realized how dangerous it was and ran away in fear, shouting ‘Oh my God’ over and over.
As the workers managed to reach higher ground, the sound of the rushing water river ripples through the area where they had previously worked.
As the man filming turns around, he witnesses a huge plume of water flying into the air.
Seeing this, the workers decided to abandon their path along a winding, muddy road and instead opt to climb dangerous rocks to get as high as possible and away from danger.
Further downstream, people living in a small riverside village watched in horror as the tsunami-like wave thundered towards their homes.
One video taken in the mountainous country shows water flowing through a town
Damage caused by flash floods in Devighat in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 27
An aerial view shows houses covered in silt after flash floods in Devighat, Bidur Municipality of Nepal’s Nuwakot District on August 27
The untidy gray buildings, once colorful homes of Nepalese people who are now dead or missing
As the stream of water flowed down the river, the spectators screamed in fear as the water came rushing towards them.
The river quickly overflowed its banks as the water, carrying debris from upstream, approached.
Nearby farms were quickly flooded with a thick sludge of muddy water.
Within just a few minutes, the banks of the river were completely submerged, with the entire area flooded.
Another video, taken from a more populous city, showed water rising quickly and flowing over a bridge in the center of the settlement.
The shocked locals could do little more than watch or run away in panic. Panicked van and car drivers could be heard honking their horns, desperate to get away from the water.
Within just a few seconds, the bridge was swept away by the sheer force of the water.
A glacier collapse in the Nepalese mountains near Tibet appears to be the cause of the disaster.
As the stream of water flowed down the river, the spectators screamed in fear as it came rushing towards them
Nearby farms were quickly flooded with a thick sludge of muddy water
An aerial view of a town along the confluence of the Trishuli and Tadi rivers in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, which was overwhelmed by muddy floodwaters
An aftermath of flash floods and mudslides along the Trishuli River in Nepal, August 26
A construction vehicle is buried in mud in Galchhi, Nepal, August 27, 2026
“A large chunk of glacier fell from about 5,200 meters (about 17,600 feet)… into a valley,” said Simon Cox, chief scientist at GNS Science in New Zealand.
It “transformed into a raging mass of rubble… where it picked up rocks, sediment, trees and anything in its way and launched it through the canyon,” he told AFP.
The wall of water first hit a border post, as documented in terrifying CCTV footage showing mud and debris engulfing the area as people fled from it.
It then traveled downstream to Nepal, where it flooded villages and demolished bridges and buildings.
The glacier collapse was large enough to be recorded as a seismic event, which was initially mistaken for an earthquake.
But after further analysis, the US Geological Survey determined “that the seismic event was instead a glacier collapse and debris flow, and that no earthquake had occurred.”
The collapse registered as a magnitude 5.2 ‘seismic event’, which occurred at 8:37 a.m. local time.
The ground floor of a two-storey house is covered in mud on August 26 in Nuwakot, Nepal
A security force member and his sniffer dog search for survivors in Trishuli in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 27
Volunteers use bulldozers to clear mud and debris along a road in Trishuli in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 27
Stunned locals in Trishuli in Nepal’s Nuwakot district experience the devastation for the first time on August 27 as water levels drop
It will take time to estimate how much of the glacier has collapsed, Cox said, but it could range from “half a million cubic meters to tens of millions of cubic meters.”
Because the affected area is largely inaccessible, experts use satellite images and available measurements on site to reconstruct the disaster.
“We can look at satellite images taken before and after the event and try to see what has changed, essentially looking for what is missing in the mountains in the ‘after’ images,” says Lauren Vargo, a glaciologist at New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington.
Shortly after the seismic activity was recorded, a nearby water monitoring station stopped transmitting, Nepalese authorities said.
Stations downstream went offline one by one, although water reaching up to 40 feet (12.3 meters) was recorded at Kalikhola, near the border with Tibet, at 2:14 p.m., she added.
Early speculation suggested that a glacial lake outburst, or GLOF, would pose a growing risk as glaciers melt due to climate change.
A GLOF occurs when a fragile rubble wall holding back a meltwater lake suddenly collapses, releasing the water behind it.
Some experts suggested that a GLOF may have been involved.
“Water flows within glaciers and flows under glaciers,” says Adrian McCallum, a glaciologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
A terrified woman, who was saved from the flood because she was on a higher level, is rescued in Trishuli in Nepal’s Nuwakot district
A drone shot shows the level of destruction in Trishuli in Nuwakot district, Nepal
Thick mud covers the remains of buildings in Trishuli, Nuwakot district, Nepal
As search efforts continue in Nepal, a lucky survivor is carried by an army rescue team to receive medical attention
“But I think the only reason why a large amount of water suddenly flows through a valley is because it has been released,” he told AFP.
Other experts said they had discovered no existing glacial lakes near the site of the glacier collapse, and theorized that water that had collected under the glacier could have flowed down with the huge section that had fallen away.
The falling glacial ice could also have briefly dammed the river, collecting water behind it that was released when it broke free.
Summer glaciers are melting upstream and monsoon rains would mean rivers were already at high levels, and the water volume was also swollen by debris and mud picked up as it traveled miles from the initial collapse, Mr Cox added.
Nepalese authorities first received reports of flooding around 9 a.m. local time and began warning areas along the Bhote Khoshi River to “remain on high alert and stay in safe areas.”
But it’s unclear how many people received the warning, or how much time they had to respond.
“The reality is that if you live in a community under a large glacier and possibly a glacial lake where a GLOF could occur, it is to some extent a ticking time bomb,” Mr McCallum said.
And even for those who receive a warning, options would be limited, said Hatim Sharif, a hydrologist at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
“Running won’t help,” nor will trying to flee by vehicle, he told AFP, because the mud and water moving at high speed form a deadly combination “like liquid concrete.”
Hydrologist Hatim Sharif said the mud and water moving at high speed form a deadly combination ‘like liquid concrete’
The glacier collapse blamed for the tsunami of floodwaters was large enough to be recorded as a seismic event, initially mistaken for an earthquake
The only solution is to climb up a hill, at least six meters high, he estimated.
While it’s difficult to immediately attribute any individual glacial event to climate change, the warming planet is putting a constant background stress on these ancient ice rivers, experts say.
Glaciers are retreating worldwide, creating disaster risks but also depriving downstream communities of vital water sources.
“The biggest way to limit the risk would be to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming,” Ms. Vargo said.
