Rescue teams were searching for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border Thursday after a catastrophic, deadly torrent of floods and mud swept through several communities a day earlier following a glacial collapse. The head of Nepal’s tourism board told CBS News Thursday that 65 U.S. nationals were among those missing in the wake of the disaster.
The Nepal Police reported at least 353 people dead and 826 missing.
Local reports cited the National Emergency Operation Center as saying Thursday the missing included 113 Nepali tourists, 85 security personnel from the army and police as well as 161 residents, as authorities ramped up operations in the worst-affected districts of Nuwakot and Rasuwa.
Prabin RANABHAT / AFP via Getty Images 
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV separately reported that 558 people were missing in Tibet — 260 of them foreigners — and two villagers were rescued. At least three people were reported killed as of Thursday morning, it said.
65 Americans missing, Nepal Tourism Board says
Hikmat Singh Ayer, CEO and senior director of the Nepal Tourism Board, told CBS News’ Arshad R. Zargar on Thursday that at least 65 Americans were among the missing foreign nationals in the small Himalayan nation, almost doubling the number of U.S. nationals reported missing the previous day.
In a subsequent update, the tourism board said 27 foreign nationals had been rescued from the flood zone in the Rasuwa district, including two U.S. nationals identified as a man and woman in their 50s.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told CBS News Thursday that the agency was aware of about 90 Americans who may be impacted by the floods, and it was continuing to closely track the situation. The spokesperson said the agency was not yet aware of any U.S. deaths.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed U.S. solidarity Wednesday with the Nepali people, saying in a social media post that the department “stands ready to support the government of Nepal with needed humanitarian assistance.”
In a series of social media posts, the U.S. Embassy in Nepal expressed “heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the devastating floods” and said it was “working to account for U.S. citizens who may have been affected.”
The embassy urged U.S. nationals in the region who were able to contact their families, hotels, guides or trekking or tour companies as soon as possible however they could, but it noted that communications were still severely disrupted.
The U.S. State Department said it was closely monitoring the situation and sending an adviser to the region to help with response efforts, as well as a $500,000 grant to Catholic Relief Services.
Search and rescue efforts intensify
Flash floods decimated villages, slamming into houses, roads, bridges and power plants. Videos broadcast by regional news outlets and posted on social media show violent torrents of water surging through valleys and mountain passes, tearing down bridges and dams and sweeping away buildings.
Drone footage in Nepal on Wednesday showed roads destroyed and buildings buried by thundering water the color of wet cement.
The region’s steep valleys are economic lifelines and travel corridors but are precarious when disaster strikes. Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Debris hung from tree branches and wires, vehicles were buried and some stunned survivors were caked in mud. The floods halted travel in some areas.
Navesh Chitrakar/REUTERS 
There was little time for anyone to flee.
“When I reached Dhunge bazaar, in half an hour, the flood came and damaged all the market. People were preparing to go to office then,” resident Shoyam Rajbhandari said. “How many people are missing or dead, we don’t know.”
Since early morning, army and private helicopters have been deployed. The Nepalese army rescued more than 100 people from flood-affected areas through helicopter operations Thursday, army spokesperson Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet said.
At least eight foreign nationals were airlifted to Kathmandu, he said, adding that army teams also evacuated people trapped inside facilities linked to the Trishuli hydropower project.
Rescuers found bodies about 62 miles downstream from the disaster zone in Chitwan district. Dozens of injured people have been transported to the country’s capital, Kathmandu, for advanced medical care.
In Tibet, a mudslide that struck near the land border crossing of Gyirong Port on Wednesday left mud in the surrounding areas more than 5 feet deep on average, with some road sections exceeding 6 feet, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported Thursday. Roads leading to the port were all damaged, while communication was cut off, it said. With light rain continuing in the area, secondary collapses or landslides may occur, it added.
Prabin RANABHAT / AFP via Getty Images 
CCTV said a barrier lake has also been discovered in the direction of the port, posing challenges to the rescue operation. Chinese authorities deployed a large military transport aircraft to send a team to the region, it said.
Officials in Nepal had earlier said hundreds of foreigners were reported missing, including Indian nationals on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus.
Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Thursday that he was praying for all those killed in devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet, French news agency AFP reported. “I pray for all those who have lost their lives, and offer my sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved and to all those affected by this tragedy,” he said in a statement.
Glacier collapse, not earthquake, seen as catastrophe’s cause
The U.S. Geological Survey first reported a magnitude 4.4 earthquake early Wednesday, about 41 miles north of Kathmandu, near the border. The USGS later updated its analysis to say the seismic event it measured was a magnitude 5.2 glacial collapse that sent debris flowing downstream with catastrophic impact on communities. It said its determination was based on data from nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves and satellite imagery, and that no earthquake had occurred.
Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday’s flash flood.
“Hydrological observations indicate the exceptional speed and magnitude of the flood wave,” they said in an emailed statement, noting that water levels at one point on the Trishuli River rose by as much as 27 feet over half an hour.
The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, had maximum flooding, they said.
Climate change’s threat to region increasing
“The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in 14 months, this time triggered by an ice rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream,” said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the climate research group.
He noted the importance of early warnings in “a warming Himalaya.”
The disaster in Nepal and Tibet is not a one-off. The Lhende Khola river system has now flooded twice in just 14 months and the increasingly unstable Himalayan ice system threatens communities, infrastructure and water supplies across one of the world’s most densely populated regions.
It saw similar flash floods in August last year, when a glacial lake in Tibet overflowed because of high temperatures. Nine people were killed, and critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting Nepal and China, was damaged.
The Himalayan mountain range spans several countries in South Asia and has many of the world’s highest peaks and remaining glaciers.
The steep slopes and the lush valleys below the Himalayan mountain range are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides, and extreme weather events like intense monsoons and melting glaciers have become more common because of warming due to human-caused climate change.
Researchers in Kathmandu found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting faster, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000.
The threat from melting glaciers has become a global concern.
