UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) , Mudslides triggered by a glacial collapse in Tibet on Wednesday have left 558 people unaccounted for, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency, while Nepal police said Thursday morning that at least 162 people had died after catastrophic flash floods tore through a border region shared by Nepal and China, leaving hundreds of tourists, workers and residents missing and bringing travel to a standstill in several communities.
Drone video captured roadways ripped apart and structures engulfed by churning, cement-gray water surging through the landscape.
The area’s narrow, steep valleys serve as vital trade routes and transportation corridors, but their geography makes them especially dangerous when natural disasters hit. Photographs from Nepal’s badly affected Nuwakot district showed the upper levels of buildings coated in mud after the floodwaters barreled through. Tree limbs and power lines were draped with debris, vehicles lay buried and dazed survivors emerged coated from head to toe in silt.