What changed
Fresh flooding along Nepal’s Budhi Gandaki River swept away about a dozen homes and several suspension bridges in Gorkha district, damaging part of a hydropower project and destroying a hydrological station. About 50 people were rescued, five remain missing, and no deaths have been reported.
Why it matters
The river rose from 2 metres to nearly 8.5 metres at one location within hours. That surge turned homes, bridges and construction equipment into debris, while also cutting off water-level data just as authorities need it most.
Families were forced to flee as communities prepared for Dashain, Nepal’s major festival. Many now face the immediate problem of finding safe shelter and essential supplies, while children are again being pulled into a disaster response barely two months after earlier floods killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands missing.
The flood appears to have been smaller and slower than August’s devastating flash floods, but the cause is still unresolved. Officials and experts are considering either a landslide that temporarily blocked a river or tributary, or an ice avalanche upstream. Until the damage is fully assessed, the missing people and the extent of disruption remain the clearest measures of how serious this new emergency will become.
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