LIVENepal flood LIVE: New footage shows people fleeing before floodwaters hit settlement and destroy it in minutes – as death toll rises once more

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Footage has emerged showing locals sprinting for their lives as a catastrophic flood tore through a town in Nepal’s Rasuwa region on Wednesday.

Nepal is facing what officials described as a scene of ‘devastation beyond imagination’ after a glacier collapse unleashed a ‘tsunami from the sky’, sending torrents of water crashing through villages and tourist hotspots.

The deadly deluge, reported to have surged as high as 650ft, has left more than 1,500 people missing and claimed at least 538 lives in one of the country’s worst natural disasters in recent memory.

Among the missing are 33 British nationals, including a 13-year-old schoolgirl from Surrey who is feared to have been swept away in the disaster.

In the six-minute long clip, terrified people scramble to escape on foot and in vehicles as powerful floodwaters tear through the area, dragging debris along with them.

Meanwhile, panic was sparked and fears of a new tsunami mounted when a lake dammed by avalanche debris in the Nepalese region burst through its banks. 

Chinese authorities have since deemed the risk as manageable, allowing halted rescue operations to resume. 

Helicopter rescue operations were abruptly halted on Friday morning with locals in Rasuwa valley seen running to higher ground after water started flowing form the newly-formed body of water.

The lake had formed up stream in Tibet some six miles from Gyirong port, the border crossing with Nepal that was engulfed by mud and floodwater on Wednesday.

China’s Ministry of Water Resources said on Thursday that the lake held around two million cubic meters (70 million cubic feet) of water and was expected to receive another three million cubic meters (106 million cubic feet) over the next three days.

12:06

WATCH: People flee as floodwaters destroy Nepali settlement in minutes

06:25

Dammed lake BREAKS ITS BANKS, sparking fears of second tsunami

Nepali authorities have said a dammed lake over the border in Tibet has broken its banks, two days after a flash flood hit the region.

Helicopter rescue operations have now been stopped, according to Reuters, and locals have been witnessed rushing up a hill to reach higher ground.

‘Information has been received that a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan side,’ police said in a statement.

‘All security personnel, rescue workers, and the general public deployed in rescue and relief operations are requested to remain alert and immediately move to a safe location/report the incident.’

Narendra Pariyar, the most senior bureaucrat of the district, said on Friday: ‘We can see that the level of water in the river is rising,’ he said, adding that it is unclear how high the water level is at present.

Earlier this morning, rescue operations in the area were suspended after the lake began to overflow.

Nepali and Chinese authorities had warned of further flooding from the lake that formed upstream after Wednesday’s disaster and was already overflowing.

TOPSHOT - This aerial image released on the Chinese social media platform Weibo account of the Lhasa Mobile Fire and Rescue Service on August 27, 2026, shows a barrier lake which formed after a landslide near where Nepal's Chhochen Khola River flows into the Purepu Tsangpo River, in Gyirong county, in China's Tibet region. A lake created after a mudslide hit the China-Nepal border faces a "high risk of breaching and sending floodwaters downstream", Chinese state media reported on August 28, citing water authorities. The lake formed after a wall of mud and debris hit the border hub of Gyirong in Tibet on August 26, with hundreds reported missing. (Photo by Lhasa Mobile Fire and Rescue Detachment / AFP via Getty Images) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Lhasa Mobile Fire and Rescue Detachment" - HANDOUT - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
12:59

Rescue efforts at CRITICAL STAGE, Chinese officials say

Rescue efforts after devastating flash floods in Nepal have reached a ‘critical stage’, Chinese officials have said.

33 British nationals are among hundreds of people missing and feared dead as rescue efforts continue after flooding in the Rasuwa district, which borders China’s autonomous region of Tibet.

Rescuers have been urged to remain on high alert after a dam burst its banks again in Nepal, and officials said the high water level of the landslide-dammed lake poses ‘a risk of a further breach’.

China and Nepal have said more than 1,500 people are missing, as Nepalese Police said the death toll in the country had risen to 547.

On Friday, Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said the search operation had not stopped, but rescuers have been urged to immediately move to a safe location if necessary.

Chinese officials said those downstream of the lake should ‘remain highly vigilant’ and ‘make preparations for prevention and emergency response in advance.’

12:43

‘Great concern’ at former school of missing Brit who just finished A-levels

The Royal Grammar School in Guildford, where missing 18-year-old Brit Spandan Sahu studied before recently completing his A-levels, has released a statement regarding their former student.

Sahu and his 13-year-old sister Syna Kumari Sahu were in Nepal with their parents, Santosh Sahu, 46, and Surabhi Manmath Padhy, 44. They are amongst 33 Brits missing after the flood on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the school said:

‘It is with great concern that we have been informed that a former student, along with members of his family, have been reported missing in Nepal.

Whilst we are hoping for positive news, we do not have any further information at this time.

Our thoughts, love and deepest sympathies are with all of the families and loved ones of anyone affected by this tragedy in Nepal at this incredibly difficult time.”
12:30

PICTURED: People make their way to higher ground following another flash flood alert in the Nuwakot region

epa13196537 People make their way on a higher ground following another flash flood alert in Nuwakot district, Nepal, 28 August 2026. More than 460 people have died and hundreds remain missing across northern Nepal after a suspected avalanche triggered massive flash floods and mudslides along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river near the Nepal-Tibet border, causing widespread destruction to settlements and infrastructure, according to local authorities.  EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA
epa13196539 People make their way on a higher ground following another flash flood alert in Nuwakot district, Nepal, 28 August 2026. More than 460 people have died and hundreds remain missing across northern Nepal after a suspected avalanche triggered massive flash floods and mudslides along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river near the Nepal-Tibet border, causing widespread destruction to settlements and infrastructure, according to local authorities.  EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA
epa13196540 People sits on higher ground following another flash flood alert in Nuwakot district, Nepal, 28 August 2026. More than 460 people have died and hundreds remain missing across northern Nepal after a suspected avalanche triggered massive flash floods and mudslides along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river near the Nepal-Tibet border, causing widespread destruction to settlements and infrastructure, according to local authorities.  EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA
epa13196538 People sits on higher ground following another flash flood alert in Nuwakot district, Nepal, 28 August 2026. More than 460 people have died and hundreds remain missing across northern Nepal after a suspected avalanche triggered massive flash floods and mudslides along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river near the Nepal-Tibet border, causing widespread destruction to settlements and infrastructure, according to local authorities.  EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA
12:18

Flood survivors recount how they ‘ran for their lives’ during devastating tsunami

Speaking to AFP, survivors of Wednesday’s flash floods in Nepal recounted their desperate fight for survival as a tsunami swept through the region.

Gorakh Khatka, an engineer who had been in the Shanti Bazar area near the epicentre of the disaster, said: ‘All we got to react was 20 seconds before mud and water was as high as 20 feet (six metres) in the inundated area.’

‘We ran for our lives and spent more than 48 hours on a hill before help finally arrived.’

Sivaranjani Muthunathan was travelling in Nepal by bus with 56 others from India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu.

They were heading towards the Chinese border when they became stuck in what they thought was a traffic jam.

‘Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,’ Muthunathan, 46, said.

Vehicles were swept away or buried under mud around them.

‘One by one, we also climbed out through the driver’s side,’ she said, recounting how she had then scrambled up a hill.

Another person added: ‘We had no choice. Every vehicle in front of us, behind us, was gone.’

‘As we were climbing up, we could hear what felt like explosions. They were rocks and boulders crashing.’

People whose relatives are missing following deadly flash floods and mudslides wait outside a postmortem block of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, August 28, 2026. REUTERS/Monika Malla
12:03

China resumes rescue work after assessing that risks from overflowing lake are ‘manageable’

Chinese authorities assessed that risks from an overflowing lake formed after a glacier collapse that triggered catastrophic flooding on the China-Nepal border had become manageable by Friday afternoon, allowing suspended rescue operations to resume

Nepal and China both warned on Thursday of fresh risks of ‌flooding in the Himalayas, with a dam from debris leading to the formation of a lake that had been threatening to collapse.

11:51

PICTURED: Two lakes at the site of the glacial collapse, in the border area between Nepal and Tibet

A satellite image shows two lakes at the site of the glacial collapse,in the border area between Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region, China, August 28, 2026. SPOT ©CNES 2026, Distribution Airbus DS/Handout via REUTERS    THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT. BLACK BACKGROUND FROM SOURCE.
11:43

Red Cross: Nearly 100,000 people affected – as threat of secondary flood remains

The Red Cross has predicted that at least 93,000 people have been impacted by the floods in Nepal.

David Fisher, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) delegation to Nepal, said there were ongoing concerns about the risk of further flooding across the country.

‘We are, of course, very concerned about the secondary flood,’ he told reporters.

The IFRC has launched an emergency appeal for £23million to support the humanitarian response to the disaster.

11:32

Exclusive:The millionaire family from Surrey including a former Mrs India UK who are missing in Nepal following flash flood… as hunt for 33 British tourists continues

A millionaire family-of-four from Surrey including a former Mrs India UK are among the missing Britons in Nepal following a devastating flash flood this week.

Days on from the initial disaster, rescuers are still scouring the mud and debris left by the flood along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet.

Police in Nepal said on Friday morning that the country’s death toll had risen to 469 from 390 a day earlier. China had not updated its report of three deaths in Tibet. More than 1,500 people are missing overall.

Among them are ex-banker and beauty pageant winner Surabhi Sahu, 44, her businessman husband Santosh, 46, their son Spandan, 18, and daughter Syna, 13, who were on an adventure trek across the Nepal-China border.

Mr and Mrs Sahu ran a successful technology company in London together before he set up a thriving pharmaceutical business. The family live in a £1.3million six-bedroom house in Cobham, Surrey.

They travelled to India last week and then on to the Nepalese-Tibetan trek. They were due to return in ten days before the start of the new school year.

Last known picture of a group of British, Irish and South African worshippers before they crossed into Nepal during pilgrimage trip / https://metro.co.uk/2026/08/27/first-picture-british-tour-group-crossed-nepal-border-havent-heard-since-29478696/

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Missing UK millionaire family pictured in Nepal before disaster 

A millionaire family-of-four from Surrey including a former Mrs India UK are among the missing Britons in Nepal following a devastating flash flood this week. 

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11:22

Locals sprint for lives as catastrophic flood tore through town in Nepal’s Rasuwa region

GRABS: Terrifying moment residents are stranded on their balcony as deadly flash floods thunder through Nepal
GRABS: Terrifying moment residents are stranded on their balcony as deadly flash floods thunder through Nepal
GRABS: Terrifying moment residents are stranded on their balcony as deadly flash floods thunder through Nepal
GRABS: Terrifying moment residents are stranded on their balcony as deadly flash floods thunder through Nepal
11:14

WATCH: Moment rescue workers pull people from tunnel in Nepal




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