In Nepal's Tragedy, a Warning for a Warming World

Damaged houses lie deluged in sludge after the flood in Trishuli Center in Nuwakot district in Nepal on August 31, 2026.

Thousands are still missing after the deadly flood in the Himalayan region. —Arun SANKAR-AFP via Getty Images On Aug.

26, a landslide and a glacier collapse in the Himalayas sent an avalanche of water, rock and soil cascading down the Trishuli River valley, which sits on the border between the northern Rasuwa district of Nepal and Gyirong County in Tibet.

The flood moved with overwhelming force and terrifying speed, sweeping away homes, schools, shops, vehicles, and people.

A week later, the reports are bleak: more 1,000 people have died in Nepal and Tibet and around 4,500 people remain missing.

Some of the bodies carried away by the deluge were found hundreds of miles downstream in India.

Rescue workers are still fighting to reach survivors.

At least 900 workers remain missing from several hydropower projects along the Trishuli River, which runs through several remote, mountainous districts of Nepal.

Hundreds of workers are believed to be trapped inside the tunnels in the hydropower projects.

A final accounting of lives lost is expected to be in thousands.

In the Chitwan district of southern Nepal, some 120 miles from the mountain valleys where the glacial fury first struck, officials have buried nearly 200 unidentified bodies in a forested area because of a lack of morgue space.

Mass burials have also started in a forest outside Kathmandu, the capital.

DNA samples have been collected so the bodies can be identified later.

Families are still waiting outside hospitals in Kathmandu, the capital, for news of their loved ones.