Sunday, 6 May 2012
Flash flood in Nepal kills at least 15, with up to 36 more missing
Yesterday the Seti River in Kaski District in Nepal was affected by a catastrophic and very sudden flash flood. The flood affected the villages of Kharapani in Sardikhola VDC; Sadal in Machhapuchhre VDC; Yamdi; and Ramghat in Kaski district. To date 15 people are confirmed to have been killed, but the toll will inevitably rise. Initial estimates are that there are a further 36 people missing, including three tourists.
For further news see the post on my main blog
This is an interesting event as the flood was clearly very large. In most cases in Nepal such extreme events occurring without rainfall are associated with either the collapse of a glacial lake dam (a so-called GLOF) or the collapse of a landslide dam. Pradeep Mool of ICIMOD, who has undertaken the definitive studies of GLOFs in the Himalayas, has noted here that the features of this flood suggest that it was not a GLOF, and indicates that a landslide was more likely. Incidentally, most international reports indicate that it may have been triggered by an avalanche, but this would be really quite unusual.
For further news see the post on my main blog
Thanks to Adrian Moon for his hard work on this story; and to Tessa/Bobby Rogowski and Cathal Ferris for sending links.
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2 comments:
Hi Dave,
There was a massive landslide on 12th July in Johnson's Landing, on Kootenay Lake in South-eastern British Columbia, Canada. I nearly died and four of our neighbours lost their lives when their homes were smothered. There is lots of information about the landslide (google "Johnson's Landing landslide") and on YouTube, where you will see footage of (stupid) me almost getting killed when I went back to search for our cat. A second mudslide came down at that very moment, 24 hours after the first landslide.
I'd be glad to tell you more about it.
Mandy Bath - expatriate Brit, Ph.D. Bristol.
email: mbath@kaslo.org
Reading through your backlog I came across one of the places I have yet to visit, Nepal, and want to go soon. Should be a reminder to those wanting to trek out that way to be aware of the history of the land.
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