Nepal's former Forest and Environment Minister Madhav Prasad Chaulagain has expressed concern over the lack of timely information exchange with China ahead of the devastating floods, stating that the disaster's scale could lead to an 'unbelievable' rise in the death toll.
The rising water level in the Narayani-Gandak river following heavy rainfall in Nepal has increased the flood threat in villages along the river in Maharajganj district, officials said on Sunday.
Climate scientist Tapio Schneider advocates for expanding early warning systems beyond rainfall events to include other disaster triggers like flash floods, citing the recent Nepal floods. He highlights the inevitability of 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming and discusses the role of advanced climate modelling and AI in improving predictions and research, particularly for regions like India.
Bengali actor Kharaj Mukherjee and his wife Pratibha Mukherjee were stranded in Nepal due to heavy rains and flash floods, but their son Tamaghna Mukherjee has confirmed they are safe and making their way back home.
'God has given me a second life.'
As devastating flash floods swept through parts of Nepal, triggered by torrential rains and a surge in the Bhote Koshi River, Nepali residents and workers in Delhi spent Wednesday anxiously trying to reach family and friends back home, with reports of deaths and hundreds missing causing widespread worry.
'This is no longer a single-hazard problem; it is a cascading, multi-hazard problem. A landslide never occurs in isolation. This entire chain is the cascading effect of what looks, at first, like a single disaster.'
Nepali Army engineers are intensifying rescue efforts for hundreds of workers trapped in hydropower project tunnels in flood-hit Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts. International teams from India and China have joined the complex operation, which involves heavy equipment and blasting to reach those out of contact, particularly at the Upper Trishuli-3A project.
Following devastating floods in Nepal, Kathmandu has initiated mass burials for unidentified victims as morgues have exceeded capacity. Security forces are burying bodies with markers and collecting DNA samples for future identification. The government has amended the Unidentified and Unclaimed Bodies Management Guidelines, 2021, to facilitate the management of disaster victims, including provisions for autopsies, DNA collection, and temporary burial with identification markers.
The flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district have left a trail of destruction, damaging homes, roads and infrastructure and disrupting lives.
'The valley is around 16 km from the Nepal border, and it took just 8-10 minutes for the ice and rocks to reach the Nepal border. You can imagine how fast it must have travelled!'
'When a glacier collapse or a major flood event does occur, the water will simply reclaim its original path, and anything built in that path will be swept away.'
Sikkim has identified 40 high-hazard glacial lakes, with 16 at the highest risk of catastrophic outbursts. Following a devastating GLOF in 2023, the state is developing India's first dedicated GLOF Risk Mitigation Protocol, using advanced monitoring and interdisciplinary approaches to protect downstream settlements and serve as a model for other Himalayan regions.
Following devastating floods in Nepal, families are facing immense challenges in identifying their missing relatives. Hospitals are overwhelmed with unidentified bodies, leading to disputed claims and a reliance on DNA testing, which can take months. Personal belongings and distinctive features are sometimes used, but forensic evidence is often the only conclusive method.
A recent study by scientists indicates that the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region is experiencing increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events due to climate change, including rapid glacial melting and changing rainfall patterns. However, the research also cautions against solely blaming climate change, highlighting that human factors like population growth, commercial activities, and non-enforcement of regulations contribute significantly to the vulnerability and impact of these disasters. The study points out that many devastating floods originate from small glaciers and rain-fed streams, exacerbated by encroachment on unstable slopes and floodplains.
Nepal has alerted India of possible flash floods in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after massive landslides, likely triggered by recent devastating earthquakes, blocked Kali Gandaki river in western Nepal, creating a huge artificial lake.
Usha Vedasalam completed the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra just a week before the devastating floods in Nepal. This is her account of the pilgrimage.
Captured in powerful images and unforgettable moments, 2025 emerged as a turning point in global affairs. These images tell the defining stories that shaped the world across continents.
The famed Darjeeling tea may have slip to a new production low in 2025, as changing weather patterns, a shortage of pluckers and mounting economic stress weigh on the region's gardens.
More than 45 lakh people in 30 out of the total 38 districts of the state have been affected by the calamity in two phases since last month, according to the Disaster Management Department.
Authorities continue evacuating stranded pilgrims from areas around Dharali village in Uttarkashi, focusing on air rescue and relief operations due to damaged roads. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is overseeing the efforts, with central government support.
The relief and rehabilitation measures were running in full swing with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launching a drive under which over Rs 180 crore were disbursed among affected people through direct cash transfer.
A landslide dammed river started flowing normally after sweeping away debris that had blocked it.
At least 30 people were killed in a landslide triggered by the continuous rainfall that has buried six villages in Nepal's mountainous northeast.
Here's a glimpse of flood situation across north and northeast India.
In Uttar Pradesh, two persons were killed since Tuesday in the floods which have affected around 8.7 lakh people in 987 villages of 28 districts in the state.
At least 33 people have been killed in flash floods in Bihar till Tuesday evening and 25.71 lakh people are affected in 16 districts of the state.
Nearly 200 people were missing after a massive landslide in northeast Nepal that blocked Sunkoshi river, turning it into a huge lake and putting dozens of villages both in Nepal and India at risk of flash floods.
The United Nations and its partners are supporting the governments of India and Nepal in search-and-rescue operations and providing assistance to thousands of people displaced due to landslides triggered by monsoonal rains in the two countries.
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country.
Year after year, floods cause mayhem in Bihar but the government is not paying adequate attention to water management.
This is also the base of the ITBP's Battalion No. 1, tasked with guarding the Line of Actual Control with China that runs along the state.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has presented a bleak picture of the country's dwindling economy, regretting that even friendly countries had started looking at Pakistan as one that was always begging for money.
Savita Kanswal, 26, was posthumously awarded the highest adventure award at Rashtrapati Bhavan this month. She died heroically, as she had lived, doing what no woman had done before her.
'Events like the one we saw on Sunday are complex geological processes which can be impacted by weather and climatic conditions.' 'It is difficult to attribute something like this to just one factor or to a particular time period, especially when we have still not understood the exact cause.'
Flash floods and landslips triggered by the monsoon fury left eight more persons dead, taking the number of people killed in calamity-hit Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to 138 even as 2700 pilgrims and locals were rescued from Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts.
Extensive anthropogenic interference, as part of developmental activities, is a significant factor that increases this hazard manifold. As a result, the landscape in the Himalayan, north-eastern regions and many other regions of India are highly susceptible to reoccurrence of landslides, says Dr Nitish Priyadarshi.
Battling choppy weather, power crisis, inundated streets and the odds, the students, with a few girls among them, survived through the tough times, keeping each other strong.
Scientists believe the unique geological locations where they are situated makes them worthy of veneration.
