The Flood Took Everything I Have: Nepal Survivor Grieves
Sangke Dolma Tamang, 61, was preparing snacks in Mailung village when floodwaters suddenly tore through her community, forcing residents to flee uphill.
As her family escaped, Tamang reached for her husband, but the rushing water pulled him from her grasp.
“Others tried to pull him to safety, but the flood swept him away,” she said, as tears rolled down her face.
Her son also disappeared after the disaster, while the family home was destroyed, leaving her with almost nothing.
“Now I have nothing left to live for,” Tamang said. “The whole house is gone. We couldn’t salvage anything.”
The disaster followed the collapse of a glacier high in the Himalayas, sending water, mud and debris through valleys along the Bhote Koshi River.
At least 579 people have been confirmed dead, while more than 1,900 remain missing, with rescue teams still struggling to reach remote communities.
Many affected areas can only be accessed by helicopter, complicating efforts to determine the full scale of the devastation.
At an army barracks in Bidur, helicopters carried survivors from isolated communities while others transported food, drinking water and emergency supplies.
Murali Maiya Tamang, 60, was among those rescued after she was found hanging from a tree following the destruction of her home.
Her only surviving son remained missing, years after her husband died during Nepal’s 2015 earthquake.
“My husband had already died in Nepal’s 2015 earthquake,” she said. “Now this flood has taken away the only son I had left.”
“I am all alone now. What is the point of living now?” she added.
Rescue operations were temporarily suspended on Friday because authorities feared rising river levels could endanger emergency workers.
Nepali army spokesperson, Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet, said helicopter operations would continue while rescuers searched for missing people.
“Right now, our focus is mostly on finding the living,” Basnet said, acknowledging the difficulty of calculating the final death toll.
Hydroelectric projects along the Bhote Koshi River were also badly damaged, with workers trapped inside tunnels filled with mud.
Rescuers were later seen bringing some workers out as emergency teams continued searching the affected sites.
In Bidur, the flood reduced parts of the town to debris, leaving buildings, businesses and roads buried under thick mud.
Shopkeeper Ashok Chaurasia said he heard the roar of the approaching flood before seeing the muddy waters rush towards the town.
He escaped by clinging to a monastery wall, but his nephew and sister-in-law were not as fortunate.
“We had a three-storey house here, and now there isn’t even a single brick left,” Chaurasia said.
“Nothing can be seen. We have nothing to eat or wear. The flood took everything I have,” he added.
Nepal’s newly elected Home Minister, Sudan Gurung, said rescuing those still missing remained the government’s immediate concern.
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