Hundreds missing as wall of water, mud and ice sweeps away villages in Nepal and Tibet

By BINOD GHIMIRE, LEO SANDS and LILY KUO

An enormous flood that began high in the Himalayas tore a devastating path through a mountain valley on the border between Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, smashing buildings and sweeping away fleeing people in a giant torrent of mud, water and ice.

At least 160 people were killed and hundreds more were missing in the wake of the flood, which snapped bridges into pieces and engulfed people who tried to run but were overtaken by its speed and destructive force.

Initial assessments by geologists and glaciologists indicated that an enormous chunk of ice — possibly a half-mile wide — had snapped off a glacier at an altitude of 17,000 feet and tumbled thousands of feet into a river valley below. Scientists studying the disaster said the impact registered as the equivalent of a 5.2-magnitude earthquake and crushed the ice into a fast-moving mix of water, ice and rock that pulverized everything in its path.

Officials in Nepal reported 157 deaths. Chinese officials reported only three deaths in Tibet, an autonomous region of China, but the toll was expected to rise. The Chinese state news agency Xinhua said there had been “significant” casualties at the Gyirong port of entry, at the border with Nepal.

Surveillance footage circulating on social media and verified by The New York Times shows crowds running up a road near the port before torrents of water and thick clouds engulf the parking lot and surrounding buildings, destroying the area.

“The bottom looks like a bomb exploded — it’s just deposits from the broken-up glacier,” said Daniel Shugar, a geologist at the University of Calgary in Canada who studied satellite imagery to analyze what happened. He said other factors may have also contributed to the landslide.

As many as 391 tourists, including 291 foreigners, had been reported missing in Nepal, the country’s Tourism Board said in a statement. They included more than 100 people from India, a dozen Britons and at least three Americans. Citizens from Australia, the Netherlands, Malaysia and South Africa were also among the missing.

Thousands of people live in riverside settlements downstream from the flooding, including along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers in the Rasuwa district. The authorities have not estimated the number of people missing and the extent of damage but said that bridges, schools and hydropower projects had been swept away.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

— Initial Assessment: A preliminary analysis of satellite imagery indicates that an ice avalanche set off the flooding, said Simon Cook, a glaciologist at the University of Dundee in Scotland who is part of a team of scientists studying the disaster. According to their initial assessment, he said, a large chunk of ice broke off from a high-altitude glacier and tumbled thousands of feet toward the Bhote Koshi River in Nepal, releasing vast amounts of energy that pulverized the ice into a significant volume of flood water.

— Destruction in China: Footage released by Chinese state media shows surging waters overwhelming buildings at the Gyirong port, taking out trees and making roads impassable.