Nepal's Gorkha District Hit by Floods Again: Second Catastrophic Flood in Six Weeks Strikes High-Mountain Nation with Near-Zero Carbon Emissions

A flash flood struck the Budi Gandaki River in Nepal's Gorkha district on Sunday, washing away riverside settlements including Saleri Bazaar, Jagat Bazaar, Dovan and Ghatkhola — the second devastating flood to batter this high-mountain nation within six weeks, and one that once again places among the world's lowest carbon emitters on the receiving end of climate costs.

According to the Times of India, preliminary figures from Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) show that 45 houses were completely destroyed and 27 partially damaged, with two suspension bridges, two motorable bridges, three hydropower projects and 34 animal shelters damaged or swept away, and three vehicles carried off by the floodwaters. PTI reported that five people remain missing, while the NDRRMA said the missing include two women.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), citing preliminary reports from Nepali authorities, indicated the flood may have been triggered by the breach of a temporary landslide-induced dam near Chunchet in Gorkha district. The exact cause of the flood, however, remains to be confirmed following geological expert team and drone investigations dispatched by Nepali authorities. Local residents told news agencies that it was not raining at the time the flood struck, and that river flow briefly halted and then resumed.

The infrastructure damage list continues to grow. The main camp and equipment at the Budi Gandaki hydropower construction site were washed away, two communication towers and 50 electric poles were damaged, and 20 to 22 houses in lower Machhikhola face direct threat. Bridges connecting Nyarchhet with Philimbazaar, Arughat with Darbhi, and Nyarchhet with Sirbhibas, as well as the Machhikhola-Kailaujya footbridge and the Sotima bridge, have all been washed away or severely damaged.

Nepali authorities have deployed four helicopters and more than 700 security personnel for rescue operations, including 171 Nepali Army soldiers and 437 army and police personnel mobilized by the NDRRMA. The Nepali Army initially evacuated six stranded residents and later updated the figure to 36; as of the time of writing, 82 people have been rescued, including nine foreign citizens, while five remain unaccounted for. Prime Minister Barendra Shah ordered the Nepali Army to advance search and rescue simultaneously by air and land, while Home Minister Sudan Gurung urged riverside residents to evacuate to safe areas. Foreign trekkers on the Manaslu trekking route have been stranded after footbridges and trails were washed away; the local conservation area authority said the trekkers are safe at their lodges, but exact numbers and evacuation arrangements have not been released. Authorities are assessing the feasibility of installing emergency bailey bridges.

Downstream, the government of India's Bihar state has begun monitoring the Valmiki Nagar barrage. Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the flood peak has passed Dighaghat, located some 80 km from the barrage, and that flow is expected to return to normal ranges after rising by approximately 15,000 cubic feet per second, with no significant impact on the barrage anticipated.

This is the second catastrophic flood Nepal has suffered within six weeks. The catastrophic Bodhkosi and Trisuli river floods of August 26 caused more than 1,400 deaths and left 5,285 missing, and Nepal's recovery is far from complete. Nepal's annual carbon emissions account for a virtually negligible share of the global total, yet glacial retreat and increasing slope instability across the Himalayan region continue to make this lowest-emitting area the principal bearer of disaster costs — the same structural imbalance, repeatedly borne out by two floods in a single summer.