🔴 Nepal-Tibet floods live: Death toll passes 600, nearly 3,000 people missing
France 24 · LC · trust 51/100
By: FRANCE 24 A man stands in front of damaged buildings after flash floods and a mudslide, in Trishuli, Nuwakot district, Nepal, on August 29, 2026. © Athit Perawongmetha, Reuters Rescuers in Nepal and China's autonomous region of Tibet were still battling Saturday to locate thousands of people missing days after deadly flash floods swept through the Himalayan region, engulfing villages. The number of missing rose to nearly 3,000 on Friday as emergency teams said they had recovered 633 bodies. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
China has dispatched five tunnel experts from its Tibet region to Nepal for flood-related rescue work, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said.
The assistance was sent via helicopter, at the request of the Nepal government for rescue operations at a hydropower station.
With roads damaged by the deadly floods, the Nepali army is using helicopters to carry out rescue operations and transport survivors to safety. Meanwhile, skies remain overcast, with more rain expected in the coming hours, raising concerns about further flooding.
Flash floods survivors wait outside army camp to be taken to safer place from Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 29, 2026. © Dar Yasin, AP
A woman and her child rescued from an area cut off by flash flooding stands for registration in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 29, 2026. © Dar Yasin, AP
A Nepalese army soldier carries an injured elderly woman rescued from an area cut off by flash flooding in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 29, 2026. © Dar Yasin, AP
Nepal's reconstruction bill after devastating floods could run into "billions of dollars", Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said, as authorities assess the scale of the destruction.
"The reconstruction and rehabilitation would entail perhaps billions of dollars," he told reporters in Kathmandu. "We will do loss and damage research and then we plan, but I am reaching out to our international community for support".
People in Nepal are gathering at Nepal University Hospital, where autopsies are being performed on bodies recovered after the devastating floods that killed thousands, in the hope of identifying and finding their loved ones.
India is stepping up monitoring of its Himalayan regions bordering China and Nepal, days after deadly floods apparently triggered by a glacial collapse, authorities said.
The US Geological Survey said the disaster on Wednesday on the Tibet-Nepal border was caused by a glacial collapse that created a torrent of debris, with nearly 3,000 missing and 633 confirmed dead.
While the exact cause of the collapse is unclear, climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, increasing the risks of such disasters.
The threat of a lake formed after a glacier collapse bursting near the China-Nepal border where a devastating flood occurred earlier this week has decreased, Chinese authorities said, as its size appears to have shrunk.
Satellite images from Thursday to Saturday morning suggest that water in the lake – straddling the China-Nepal border at the confluence of two rivers – has been slowly flowing through, decreasing the reservoir gradually, state broadcaster CCTV reported citing the Water Resources Ministry.
The ministry said satellite imagery of the surface area of the lake at Purepu Tsangpo river showed it was 99,000 sqm in size – around the size of 14 football fields combined – having shrunk by 21,000 sqm compared with images from Thursday.
The scale of Nepal’s disaster cannot yet be fully measured. Entire communities remain difficult to reach, tens of thousands of people have been affected, and official assessments are only beginning.
But the central challenge is already clear: this cannot be treated solely as an immediate humanitarian emergency as signs suggest that the speed and destructive force of this extreme natural event could become more frequent.
FRANCE 24's William Hilderbrandt welcomes David Fisher, Head of Delegation, Nepal International Federation of Red Cross who tells us more.
The number of missing soared close to 3,000, latest figures from both countries showed, with 633 bodies recovered – and reports of some dead possibly swept downstream as far away as India.
In an area home to vast energy infrastructure projects, Nepal's disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to a missing persons list already including trekkers and pilgrims to Tibet's sacred Mount Kailash.
Those that made it out say they have lost everything and now face an agonising wait to discover the fate of missing loved ones, and the prospect of rebuilding their lives from nothing.
Around 500 people are sheltering at a monastery-turned-relief camp in northern Kathmandu, where many families are still in shock after losing their homes and loved ones in the devastating Nepal floods.
FRANCE 24's Shahzaib Wahlah reports from the camp as rescue teams continue searching for nearly 1,500 missing people.
A glacier broke apart. An ice and rock avalanche followed. Then came an earthquake, before a landslide triggered devastating floods that tore through kilometres of valley. This is what happened along the Nepal-China border, where rescue teams are still trying to recover survivors 48 hours after the catastrophe.
FRANCE 24 breaks down the chain of events and the scientific explanations behind the disaster.
Nepal's disaster authority raised sharply the number of missing to 2,426 and increased the death toll in the country to 626, three days after devastating floods struck.
The list includes a large rise in Nepalis listed as missing, up from a total of 1,924 the previous night. The number of missing foreigners remains at 517, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Nepal needs $4 billion to $5 billion for rebuilding after the devastating flood that struck its border areas this week, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle said.
"This is just an estimate. Loss and damage is being…
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