अAmarnepalNepal Data
Figures as of 27 August 2026, 6:00 pm NPTTravel status changes daily. Confirm with operators, the district administration and the Nepal Tourism Board before making any decision based on this page.
Affected areas · Travel status

Seventy-six kilometres, five districts, and one trail that survived.

Where the flood went, what it hit at each point, and the honest current status of the road, the border and the Langtang trek.

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How 20 km of Tibet reached 76 km of Nepal

The failure happened outside Nepal, above a tributary Nepal does not monitor, and arrived at the border in under forty minutes.

1,0002,0003,0004,0005,000METRES← TIBETNEPAL →26 Aug 2026ice & rock avalanche, ~5,200 mfalls ~1,200 m into the Lhende Kholadebris dams the stream, then bursts10 Jul 2025supraglacial lake5,150 m · 36 km upUpper Trishuli-1 — 216 MW (under construction)Rasuwa Bhotekoshi — 120 MW (under construction)Rasuwagadhi — 111 MW (operating)Sanjen Khola — 78 MW (operating)Chilime — 22 MW (operating)Langtang Khola — 20 MW (under construction)Upper Mailung A — 6.42 MW (operating)Mailung Khola — 5 MW (operating)Rasuwagadhi1,850 m · border & customs≈09:15 — arrives with no warningTimure1,780 m · dry portSyabrubesi1,460 m · Langtang trailheadBetrawati620 mDevighat520 m-40-20020406080KILOMETRES FROM THE BORDER
Operating plant damaged Under construction River profile8 plants marked · 578.4 MW · circle area ∝ capacity

Schematic, with strong vertical exaggeration. Settlement elevations are as published; intermediate river elevations are interpolated and hydropower positions along the river are approximate. The two events are plotted on one axis for comparison of distance and height, but they were not on the same watercourse: the 2025 supraglacial lake sat above the Bhote Koshi headwaters, while the 2026 avalanche fell into the Lhende Khola, a tributary joining below it. Sources: ICIMOD, USGS, Nepal Electricity Authority, Kathmandu Post.

Downstream

Five districts, three levels of impact

The surge concentrated its destruction in the top 30 km, where the valley is narrowest and the settlements sit on the riverbank. Beyond Nuwakot it attenuated into the wider Trishuli.

Rasuwa

Direct impactDistrict profile →

Rasuwagadhi, Timure, Syabrubesi and the Mailung area. Worst destruction in the corridor. District headquarters at Dhunche is the coordination point.

Nuwakot

Direct impactDistrict profile →

Betrawati, Trishuli Bazaar and Devighat. The Trishuli Bazaar bridge was swept away. Downstream hydropower including Devighat damaged.

Dhading

AffectedDistrict profile →

Riverside settlements along the Trishuli. Alerted and affected as the surge moved downstream.

Gorkha

AlertedDistrict profile →

Downstream on the Trishuli/Narayani system. Bodies were recovered in the wider downstream districts.

Chitwan

AlertedDistrict profile →

Furthest downstream district placed on flood alert as the wave entered the Narayani.

Place by place

Down the valley

PlaceDistrictElevationRiver kmWhat was there
RasuwagadhiरसुवागढीRasuwa1,850 m0Nepal's principal trade gateway to China, 24 km from Kerung. The customs office was destroyed, the second time this crossing has been wrecked in fourteen months.
TimureटिमुरेRasuwa1,780 m3The dry port and transit settlement below the border. Among the worst hit; most of the early helicopter rescues, 123 people, were lifted from here.
Syabrubesiस्याफ्रुबेसीRasuwa1,460 m16The road head and gateway to the Langtang trek, where the Bhote Koshi meets the Langtang Khola. Market area and river frontage destroyed.
Dhuncheधुन्चेRasuwa1,960 m—District headquarters of Rasuwa, and the coordination point for the response.
MailungमाइलुङRasuwa—30Site of the Mailung Khola and Upper Mailung A hydropower projects, both damaged.
Betrawatiबेत्रावतीNuwakot620 m60Where the Rasuwa road meets Nuwakot; the confluence of the Trishuli and Phalanku.
Trishuli Bazaarत्रिशूली बजारNuwakot540 m72The main downstream town. Its bridge was swept away.
DevighatदेवीघाटNuwakot520 m76The oldest plant in the cascade, at the bottom of the chain, also damaged.
Gyirong PortकेरुङGyirong County, Tibet1,800 m—On the Chinese side of the border. Reported completely destroyed, with 558 people missing in the county including 260 foreign nationals.

River km measured downstream from the border at Rasuwagadhi. An ice-and-rock avalanche off a glacier at roughly 5,200 m in Tibet fell about 1,200 m into the Lhende Khola, a small tributary of the Bhote Koshi some 20 km north-east of the Nepal–China border. The debris dammed the stream; when the dam gave way the release ran down the Bhote Koshi into Rasuwa.

If you were planning to travel

Road, border and trek status

This corridor is the gateway to the Langtang Valley and Tamang Heritage treks and the overland staging point for Kailash. The flood arrived at the front edge of the autumn season.

Pasang Lhamu Highway (Kathmandu – Dhunche – Syabrubesi)

Damaged / restricted

Landslides and debris have damaged or blocked sections. The Department of Roads began installing bailey bridges within days to restore basic access. Treat the corridor as unsafe for non-essential travel until authorities say otherwise.

Syabrubesi – Rasuwagadhi road and the Kerung border

Destroyed

The road was still under repair from the July 2025 flood when this one destroyed it. The Rasuwagadhi customs office was destroyed. Operators report the overland Kailash route via this crossing closed.

Langtang Valley trek

Access disrupted, trail largely spared

Two rivers meet at Syabrubesi and only the Bhote Koshi flooded; the Langtang trail follows the Langtang Khola. The problem is reaching the trailhead, and the condition of Syabrubesi itself, rather than the trail above it. The Nepal Tourism Board has advised postponing travel to the affected corridor.

Tamang Heritage Trail

Significantly affected

Itineraries include an overnight at Syabrubesi, which has suffered serious damage. Operators report departures affected.

Please read this before booking or cancelling. Amarnepal is not on the ground and this is not an official advisory. Rasuwa's search and recovery operation is ongoing and several hundred people are still missing. Beyond the practical question of whether a route is passable, the corridor is not currently a place for tourism. When it is ready for visitors again, returning will matter enormously to people whose livelihoods depend on it, but that is a decision for the district and the Tourism Board to signal, not for a website.

Other trekking routes in Nepal →How to help instead →
Questions

Affected areas and travel

Which districts were affected by the Bhote Koshi flood?+

Rasuwa took the direct impact, with Nuwakot immediately downstream. Alerts and downstream effects extended to Dhading, Gorkha and Chitwan as the surge moved into the Trishuli and then the Narayani system. The worst destruction was concentrated in the upper valley at Rasuwagadhi, Timure and Syabrubesi.

Is the Langtang trek open after the 2026 flood?+

Access is disrupted rather than the trail itself being destroyed. Syabrubesi, the road head, suffered serious flood damage, and sections of the Pasang Lhamu Highway linking Kathmandu to Dhunche and Syabrubesi have been damaged or blocked. Importantly, two rivers meet at Syabrubesi and only the Bhote Koshi flooded; the Langtang trail follows the Langtang Khola. The Nepal Tourism Board has advised postponing travel to the affected corridor until conditions are restored. Check with operators and local authorities before travelling.

Is the road to Rasuwagadhi and the Kerung border open?+

The Syabrubesi-Rasuwagadhi road was destroyed, having still been under repair from the July 2025 flood, and the Rasuwagadhi customs office was destroyed. The Department of Roads began installing bailey bridges within days to restore basic access. The overland Kailash route via this crossing has been reported closed by operators.

How far downstream did the flood reach?+

The destructive surge ran roughly 76 km from the border down to Devighat in Nuwakot, dropping from about 1,850 m at Rasuwagadhi to about 520 m. Beyond that the flood wave attenuated into the wider Trishuli and Narayani, but flood warnings were issued for districts as far as Chitwan.

Sources & data note

This is a fast-moving mass-casualty event. Published figures disagree between outlets and change by the hour: Nepal's confirmed death toll was reported at 31, then 95, then 165, 175 and over 350 within roughly 36 hours. Every figure on this page carries the outlet that published it and the time it was reported true, and where sources conflict we show the range rather than choosing a number. Amarnepal does not have reporters in Rasuwa; nothing here is independently verified on the ground. For live updates, follow the Kathmandu Post, Setopati, Onlinekhabar and NDRRMA's BIPAD portal directly.