Flash floods devastate Devi Ghat, leaving scores missing
Flash floods along Nepal’s River Trishuli devastated Devi Ghat, a northern town near the Tibetan border, destroying homes, businesses and its Kali temple. Survivors described fleeing to higher ground as a wall of water and mud swept through the settlement, leaving residents grieving for missing relatives and attempting to recover what they could; the disaster has displaced much of the community and complicated rescue efforts.
The article says Devi Ghat had about 1,000 residents, with at least 100 believed to have been swept away alongside the temple and roughly 800 thought to have survived. Around 400 people were sheltering at a nearby school, where they received blankets, clothing and one daily meal, while searches continued in mud-covered homes; it reports that the wider floods killed at least 600 people and left nearly 2,500 missing.
- Floods destroyed much of Devi Ghat and its riverside Kali temple.
- Hundreds sheltered at a school after fleeing to higher ground.
- The wider disaster reportedly killed 600 and left thousands missing.
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Flash floods can occur when intense rain, rapid snowmelt or a blockage in a river sends water through an area with little warning. In Nepal’s steep Himalayan terrain, rivers can quickly carry mud, rocks and debris as well as water, making them especially destructive to settlements on their banks.
Devi Ghat is a small community beside the River Trishuli in northern Nepal, close to the border with Tibet. The river runs south from the Himalayas and is important to nearby towns, but its valleys are also exposed to landslides and sudden flooding during heavy rain.
The Kali temple was a local place of worship, while homes and small businesses formed the centre of everyday life in the town. Flooding on this scale can leave people without shelter, food, identity documents or contact with relatives, and can make it difficult for rescue teams to reach affected places.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “‘When the water came, we ran’: Nepali villagers reel from floods that left their town looking like it had been hit by a bomb – as they say ‘Goddess Kali tricked us’”.