Nepal flood death toll rises to 675 as nearly 2,500 remain missing - NBC News

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The death toll from catastrophic flash floods and mudslides in Nepal rose to at least 734 on Saturday, as nearly 2,500 people remained missing in the country, including about 100 Americans.

More than 8,100 people have been rescued, according to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, which consolidates information from Nepal Police, Nepal Army and Armed Police Force. More than 90,000 people have been affected by the disaster, according to the Nepal Red Cross.

Rescuers have struggled to reach devastated communities along the Nepal-Tibet border, with the scale of the disaster coming into view four days after the torrent of water, ice and debris swept through Himalayan valleys, destroying homes, bridges and other infrastructure.

As families wait for news about their relatives, damaged roads, power outages and fears of further flooding have hampered rescue efforts.

Of those missing in Nepal, 589 are foreign nationals, according to the disaster agency. The Nepal Tourism Board said 261 foreign nationals have been rescued.

House nearly engulfed by Nepal floodwaters

China has separately reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing in its Tibet region, including hundreds of foreigners. It is unclear how much overlap there is between the Chinese and Nepali missing-person counts.

The disaster began Wednesday when a massive chunk of ice and rock dozens of times larger than the Empire State Building broke off a mountaintop and triggered the catastrophic flooding, geologists said.

Videos from the hardest-hit border regions showed people running as the debris flow swallowed buildings and vehicles, devastated towns and settlements, and severed roads, power and communications.

The suspected collapse of a melting glacier shook the ground so violently that seismic monitors initially registered it as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey later revised that number to the equivalent of a 5.2 magnitude earthquake and said a second seismic event three hours after the first registered as the equivalent of a 4.2 temblor.

Debris flow and flooding from what it called a “slope failure” travelled 62 miles, the USGS said.

The State Department said Friday it is not aware of any confirmed American deaths, but the large number of U.S. citizens still unaccounted for has added to the growing uncertainty surrounding the disaster. Approximately 100 Americans remain missing, while five have been rescued, the department said Saturday.

Among the missing are Murphy, Texas, residents Raghu Rajan and Archana Suresh. The pair were expected to cross the China-Nepal border Wednesday morning when the floods hit. Their phones last pinged that morning near a bridge that washed away.

“We know the severity of it, but still, you know, there’s a ray of hope for us to find our loved ones,” Rajan’s sister-in-law Divya Chandrashekar told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

Deepak and Madhu Ahuja, Plano, Texas, business owners who have been married for 34 years, were in the area for a religious journey to Mount Kailash, a sacred site for both Hindus and Buddhists. Their family is now desperately trying to find them while holding out hope that they survived.

“My first reaction was, ‘That cannot be true,’” Deepak’s brother Sushil Ahuja said. “They went there for a good cause, right? This cannot happen to them.”

The State Department has urged U.S. citizens “currently in, or recently traveling through Rasuwa or another affected area” to get in touch via KathmanduACS@state.gov.

A spokesperson said relatives seeking information about family members in Nepal “should call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free from the United States and Canada, or 1-202-501-4444 from other locations.”

On Saturday, helicopters resumed operations in Nepal’s flood-hit Nuwakot district after poor weather temporarily halted efforts.

Some helicopters arrived loaded with boxes and bags of aid, including clothes, instant noodles, crackers and rice, while others returned from the flood-hit areas carrying survivors, among them several babies from the nearby community of Trishuli.

Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management urgently dispatched five tunnel experts to join rescue efforts at a hydropower station tunnel in Nepal, Chinese state media reported on Saturday.