Nepal Floods: 950+ Dead. And We’re Still Digging.

It’s been 6 days.

Nepal’s still counting bodies.

Sept 1 morning update says 939 dead in Nepal. Other outlets are saying 955 if you add Tibet. Missing is anywhere between 3,925 and 4,471 depending on who you ask. Nobody really knows.

It’s bad.

The hydropower sites are the worst part

This started Aug 26. Border with China. Rock and ice fell, blocked a river, then the whole thing let go.

Rasuwa and Nuwakot got hit first.

And the hydros… god. At least 900 workers missing from 12 projects. I saw one estimate that 500 are still in tunnels.

They did pull 254 people out of Upper Trishuli 1. Indian and Chinese rescue guys are there now too.

Nepal army found 4 bodies in 3 tunnels today. Mud everywhere. In Betrabati village they found 24 people in one house. One house.

I keep thinking about that.

11,000 rescued but…

PM Balendra Shah said 11,000+ rescued. 22,000 security people out there. 16 helicopters.

Sounds like a lot. Doesn’t feel like enough.

India got 158 of its people out. But 500 are still missing. A lot of them were on Kailash Mansarovar trips. Embassy numbers: 977 985 131 6807. Writing it down because I saw someone asking on Twitter.

China says 261 foreigners missing on their side. 49 of them Indian.

It could get worse again

There’s a lake up there now. 2 million cubic meters of water just… sitting. Authorities are freaking out it might breach. China actually stopped rescue work for a bit on Friday because of it.

Bridges are gone. 35 road bridges, 45 hanging bridges. Bodies showing up days later in Chitwan, Gorkha. Downstream.

Morgues can’t keep up. Foreign Secretary said they’re burying unidentifiable remains. Standard protocol, he said. That phrase stuck with me.

And now the politics

China says “not our dams”. Called it malicious speculation.

Shah says it was a glacier collapse. Ice, rock, mud. Bad timing for a 6-month-old government.

$42M in aid so far. India and China both sending help. Modi called Shah and said India will help however it can.

Everyone’s helping. Everyone’s also pointing fingers.

What now

Monsoon isn’t even over. And we still have people in those tunnels.

Shah posted last night: “We understand the pain… path ahead is to support them”. Standard stuff.

I don’t know. For families in Kathmandu waiting on a name, or in Nuwakot waiting on a body, normal is not coming back anytime soon.

Based on reporting from The Hindu, AP, PTI. Updated Sept 1, 2026