Satellite images show destruction from Nepal-Tibet floods

A glacier collapse high in the Himalayas on Wednesday triggered catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border.At least 359 people have been confirmed dead and more than 1,300 remain missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after a Himalayan glacier collapse sent a wall of water, mud and rock through border towns and valleys.Rescue teams are searching for survivors in terrain that is hard to access at the best of times. At least 19 bridges and about 40km (25 miles) of road have been destroyed, further hampering the search.Nepal-police" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="36616" data-entity-type="organization">Nepal Police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said the death toll is expected to rise further.(Al Jazeera)Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs before and after the flood shows how buildings and roads have been washed away.The imagery also shows large parts of Syapru Besi village submerged in mud.A drone view shows mud covering properties following a flash flood in Trishuli, Nuwakot district, Nepal [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]Dozens of bridges have been destroyed and nearly 40 kilometres (25 miles) of roads damaged, complicating search efforts, Nepali officials say [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]A drone view shows mud covering buildings in Trishuli, Nuwakot district [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]An aerial view shows workers using excavators to clear sludge following flash floods at Trishuli in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on August 27, 2026 [Arun Sankar/AFP]What happened?At about 8:40am local time (02:55 GMT) on Wednesday, a large section of glacier broke away high above the Lhende river in Tibet. The falling ice and rock dammed the river and, shortly afterwards, when the blockage gave way, the surge tore through settlements in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, destroying homes, hydropower plants and border infrastructure.The resulting ice and rock avalanche struck the river about 20km (12 miles) northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing.Early reports attributed the collapse to a magnitude 4.4 earthquake. But the United States Geological Survey later said the seismic signal was caused by the landslide itself, not an earthquake. The landslide packed enough force to register as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.A drone view shows mud covering properties following a flash flood at Trishuli in Nuwakot district, Nepal, on August 26, 2026 [Stringer/Reuters]Where did the floods hit?