First Thing: Rescue efforts continue as death toll rises in Nepal-Tibet flood
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A member of the security forces and his sniffer dog search for survivors after flash floods in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on 27 August 2026. Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty View image in fullscreen A member of the security forces and his sniffer dog search for survivors after flash floods in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on 27 August 2026. Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty First Thing newsletter US news First Thing: Rescue efforts continue as death toll rises in Nepal-Tibet flood More than 1,300 people are missing in Nepal and in Tibet after catastrophic flash floods swept through the region, killing at least 469. Plus: Six months of the war in Iran
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Rescue operations have resumed in Nepal and Tibet after a pause when a lake at the border began to overflow. The lake was formed when a wall of mud and debris hit the hub of Gyirong in Tibet on Wednesday, causing catastrophic flash floods that thundered down valleys and obliterated villages.
More than 1,300 people are missing, with the death toll reaching 469 on Friday. More than 500 foreign citizens were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism officials have said, with Chinese state media reporting that at least 260 of the 558 missing people on the Tibet side of the border were foreign nationals.
What could have caused this deadly flash floods? Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause, raising concerns that the climate crisis is destabilizing the geology of mountain and polar regions.
This is a developing story. Follow our live coverage here .
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