district
Namoshree writes that 26 August 2026 began as an ordinary, unremarkable day in Nepal which would have passed like any other, had it not been for the catastrophic disaster that unfolded and whose reverberations are likely to be felt for years to come.
'The morning was bright and sunny like today', the woman who survived the disaster recalled and speaking of the flash floods she adds “we did not know what it was. It was dark..black, huge, and coming down. It was rushing down at such speed, rumbling through the valley and threatening us.
When the flood happened, there was no rainfall in our area. At that time we did receive information from people in Gyirong, upstream, that a flood was coming. They said, ‘Gyirong is finished.’ We could not believe. A smaller flood had happened previously, so people initially underestimated the situation. They were saying, ‘How big can it be? We will see from this bridge.’ Nobody was willing to run.
After that, there was a hue and cry that Betravati was also finished and that Soley Bazaar was also finished. Only then did people here at Devighat started running…People were now convinced to run and escape when they heard that Dugrey Bazaar and Trisuli Bazaar were also finished. By then, people started panicking. The vehicles were turned back. That is why many casualties could be avoided in this area.
But we were the ones who saw it all happen in front of our eyes. We cried and screamed. The houses were literally thrown away. When the first wave of the flood came, it jolted the houses. Then another wave came and literally lifted the houses and washed them away like slippers being thrown here and there. That is how this flood gushed down that day. [Some described the flood’s sudden force as “like a bomb,” with some comparing its destructive impact to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.]
Then, nobody could contact anyone. Everyone was scattered, and nobody knew where the others were. Children…Women…Aged people ...everyone asking for help. There were hue and cry everywhere. Families were separated. And then we saw the flood engulfing everything in its path. It seemed to show no mercy ..nothing and no one was spared.
That was my maternal home village. Around 340 dead bodies were taken out from that village. Almost everyone there was dead. There were no phones and no communication for a long time. Only later in the day could we establish faint connections.
Then there was so much wailing and crying. I came to this same place nearly three hours after the incident. What I saw was dead bodies being taken out. If eleven bodies were taken out, most of them were elderly people from this place. There were bodies being taken out without clothes.
I had lost many things in previous disasters, but this disaster was the most devastating and frightening for me. My heart broke, especially when I saw 20-25 helicopters hovering above us. People were standing in rows and rows, waiting to find out what had happened to their homes and their family members and loved ones. They were simply wailing and continuously looking towards the site. Some of them would faint, become unconscious, and fall to the ground.
I saw everything. I kept walking here and there. There were traffic jams, people crying, and chaos everywhere. Some said ‘“तेरो त लाश भए पनि भेटायो, मेरो त आश पनि छैन।” (At least you found your family member’s body, I don’t even have that hope.) Hearing such things, I felt completely broken. I kept thinking, ‘What is this? In which world are we living?’ That is how I felt at that time.
Many of us who saw this live are psychologically disturbed. I myself feel the shiver when I recall it now. Many people could not get drinking water. Many could not send messages. People were waving handkerchiefs, asking for help, and simply standing there and staring. They were asking for water and biscuits. We could not even reach them directly or throw packets of biscuits to them. The area was difficult and inaccessible, and we were helpless. That night, there was no electricity either. It was completely dark, the weather became even more difficult, and it continued to rain. It felt that this was the kind of disaster that even many of our ancestors had never witnessed.
During earlier disasters, such as the earthquake, infrastructure like roads was not completely destroyed. Wherever a building had collapsed, there was still a possibility of digging at that particular place and finding the bodies. But this case was completely different. We could not even understand where the people had been swept away.
The areas in Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts were among the worst affected, but the people who lost their lives, injured, or went missing were from other districts as well.
At first, we were searching for the living, the survivors. Later, we also started collecting the dead. We collected the bodies and kept them aside at the barracks. After some time, the bodies started to smell, and the entire pathway was filled with a disgusting smell. It became difficult even to walk through that area.
We informed our CDO sir. We told him that we were not being allowed to keep the bodies in the Pashupati area either, and there was no other suitable location. Then, at another place, around 60-70 unclothed dead bodies were brought and kept aside like piled up like logs of wood thrown out to dry. I thought, ‘Oh, have we lost all our humanity?’ I was heartbroken and felt like crying my heart and soul out.
Regional authorities were also coming to collect the bodies of people they knew. But even after identifying the bodies, arranging their transportation was extremely difficult because there were simply too many bodies. Dead bodies from all the affected districts upstream were being brought and kept here.
At that time, even the authorities could not understand the situation properly or figure out how to manage it. Our minds were not working properly either. We had been witnessing these things for so long. Slowly, the news spread across different places, and only then did help start arriving.
For about one week, search-and-rescue operations continued here. Later, they started searching in other nearby areas as well. In places such as Betravati, dead bodies were found lying on the surface itself.
Now we have seen the loss and destruction. We have faced it all here. This was once such a thriving place. People had houses and businesses. Now they have been reduced to nothing and have come onto the streets with nothing. Some are the only survivors of their families. They have lost everyone. They are mentally disturbed. This was something that nobody could ever have imagined.
This place was not located high above. It was near a small stream. This Tadi Khola, which is a tributary, had flooded in the past as well and had affected areas upstream. But the Trisuli had never done anything like this. It was a peacefully flowing river. It had never shown us this side of itself. It had flooded in the past, but never on this scale or in this manner. It always used to flow within a relatively narrow channel.
The devices that were used to measure the height of the water flow were also swept away. The flow was blocked for some time by this bridge, and then the bridge itself was swept away. The same thing happened at Betravati.
The flow was blocked there as well. The wave hit the bridge once, went back, and then came again for the second time. Earlier too, the flow used to get blocked by such bridges along the way. There were several places where the water was obstructed because of bridges.
Wherever such bridges remained obstructed for a longer period, the water accumulated there, and those became the main points where the flow was blocked and subsequently caused severe damage, these were just some of my personal observations”
However, when the mountains talk in anger, we need to listen and pay heed to their message'
Author:
Ms Namoshree Rai,
Darjeeling
Photo Credits: Namoshree Rai
My sincere thanks to Namoshree for a story that, while free of scientific data and technical details, resonates with deep, intense feeling.
Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744
