Figures as of 27 August 2026, 6:00 pm NPTThis is a live event and published figures disagree. How we source and date every number.

The ledger

What one morning cost, sector by sector.

Name: Bhote Koshi flood 2026: damage and losses
Creator: Amarnepal
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The Rs 15 billion figure being reported covers roads and bridges. It does not include the hydropower, the customs corridor, the housing, the season, or the fact that the people who respond to disasters in Rasuwa were standing in it.

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Hydropower capacity damaged

748MW

14 projects: nine operating (354 MW) and five under construction (394 MW). NEA's first statement named only six facilities; the figure widened as assessments reached the upper valley.

Nepal Electricity Authority ↗as of 27 Aug 2026, 12:00 pm

Paved road destroyed

40km

NDRRMA ↗as of 26 Aug 2026, 8:00 pm

Motorable bridges destroyed

Reported range 19–35

A further 45 suspension bridges are reported lost. Counts differ as districts report separately.

NDRRMA; higher count in later district returns ↗as of 27 Aug 2026, 9:00 am

First road & bridge damage estimate

Rs 15 billion

Roads and bridges only. It excludes hydropower, the customs corridor, housing and lost tourism, and will rise substantially.

Compiled official estimates ↗as of 27 Aug 2026, 12:00 pm

By sector

Six ledgers, only one of which has a number yet

Energy

748 MW across 14 facilities

Nine operating plants (354 MW) and five under construction (394 MW), plus transmission. The under-construction share is the one to watch: those projects carry financing schedules, contractor claims and insurance positions that a completed plant does not, and some will not be finished on their original terms.

Transport

~40 km of road, 19+ motorable bridges

A further 45 suspension bridges are reported lost. The Trishuli Bazaar bridge was swept away and sections of the Pasang Lhamu Highway are blocked. The Department of Roads began installing bailey bridges within days. The Syabrubesi–Rasuwagadhi section was still under repair from the 2025 flood when it was destroyed again.

Trade

Nepal's main China gate, destroyed twice in 14 months

The Rasuwagadhi customs office is gone. This corridor carried roughly Rs 163.73bn of imports against Rs 466.81m of exports, a ratio that is its own story about Nepal–China trade. With Tatopani historically unreliable, Nepal's overland options northward are now severely constrained.

Tourism

The Langtang gateway, at the start of autumn season

Syabrubesi is the road head for the Langtang Valley and Tamang Heritage treks and the overland staging point for Kailash. The flood arrived at the front edge of the autumn trekking season. One mitigating fact: two rivers meet at Syabrubesi and the Langtang trail follows the one that did not flood.

Consular

Around 600–644 foreign nationals missing on the Nepal side

Drawn from more than 25 countries. Beyond the human toll, this converts a domestic disaster into an international consular operation and will shape how Nepal's mountain tourism is perceived for at least a season.

The state itself

44 Army, 26–28 Police, 9–13 APF personnel unaccounted for

Plus customs and immigration staff. The institutions that respond to a disaster in Rasuwa were themselves stationed in the part of Rasuwa the flood hit hardest, which degraded the response at the moment it was most needed.

Energy

The cascade, project by project

Amarnepal already carries plant-level data on this valley, which is how it is possible to say something most coverage cannot: this was not bad luck striking a random district. Rasuwa is one of Nepal's densest hydropower clusters, and it sits below an unmonitored transboundary hazard.

748 MW, in one morning

Fourteen hydropower and transmission facilities were damaged. The named projects below are those identified in published reporting.

Upper Trishuli-1216 MW
Rasuwa Bhotekoshi120 MW
Rasuwagadhi111 MW
Sanjen Khola78 MW
Chilime22 MW
Langtang Khola20 MW
Upper Mailung A6.42 MW
Mailung Khola5 MW

748 MW

total damaged, 14 facilities

354 MW

nine plants already generating

394 MW

five still under construction

Named-project total shown here is 578.4 MW, of which 222.4 MW was operating. The balance of the NEA figure covers transmission assets including the Trishuli 3B 220 kV hub substation, Trishuli 3A, Trishuli and Devighat. Source: Nepal Electricity Authority.

Project	Capacity	Status
Rasuwagadhi	111 MW	Operating
Sanjen Khola	78 MW	Operating
Chilime	22 MW	Operating
Upper Mailung A	6.42 MW	Operating
Mailung Khola	5 MW	Operating
Upper Trishuli-1	216 MW	Under construction
Rasuwa Bhotekoshi	120 MW	Under construction
Langtang Khola	20 MW	Under construction

The Nepal Electricity Authority puts the total at 14 damaged hydropower and transmission facilities, about 748 MW: nine operating plants totalling 354 MW and five under construction totalling 394 MW. The named projects above are those identified in published reporting; the balance covers transmission assets including the Trishuli 3B 220 kV hub substation, Trishuli 3A, the Trishuli plant and Devighat. One naming caveat: flood reporting lists a 6.42 MW Upper Mailung A and a 5 MW Mailung Khola, while Amarnepal's own hydropower dataset carries a single Upper (Mathillo) Mailung Khola project at 14.3 MW. We have not been able to reconcile whether these are the same asset described differently or separate cascade stages, so both figures are shown as published rather than merged.

Trade

The gate to China, on a riverbank

Rasuwagadhi is one of Nepal's two main trade crossings with China and its principal working one, directly north of Kathmandu. Its customs office was destroyed on 26 August. It had already been destroyed once in the July 2025 flood, and the crossing has been repeatedly closed for weather and infrastructure damage in the years since.

Amarnepal analysis: the decision that matters now is not how fast Rasuwagadhi reopens, but where it reopens. Rebuilding customs and the road on the same alignment restores the trade flow and preserves the exposure, and the last time Nepal made that choice it bought fourteen months.

Imports through this corridor

Rs 163.73bn

Exports the other way

Rs 466.81m

A ratio of roughly 350 to 1

Nepal–China trade in full →

On the ground

What was in each place

Place	District	What was there
Rasuwagadhiरसुवागढी	Rasuwa	Nepal'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.
Timureटिमुरे	Rasuwa	The dry port and transit settlement below the border. Among the worst hit; most of the early helicopter rescues, 123 people, were lifted from here.
Syabrubesiस्याफ्रुबेसी	Rasuwa	The road head and gateway to the Langtang trek, where the Bhote Koshi meets the Langtang Khola. Market area and river frontage destroyed.
Dhuncheधुन्चे	Rasuwa	District headquarters of Rasuwa, and the coordination point for the response.
Mailungमाइलुङ	Rasuwa	Site of the Mailung Khola and Upper Mailung A hydropower projects, both damaged.
Betrawatiबेत्रावती	Nuwakot	Where the Rasuwa road meets Nuwakot; the confluence of the Trishuli and Phalanku.
Trishuli Bazaarत्रिशूली बजार	Nuwakot	The main downstream town. Its bridge was swept away.
Devighatदेवीघाट	Nuwakot	The oldest plant in the cascade, at the bottom of the chain, also damaged.
Gyirong Portकेरुङ	Gyirong County, Tibet	On the Chinese side of the border. Reported completely destroyed, with 558 people missing in the county including 260 foreign nationals.

Rasuwa district profile →How long rebuilding takes →

Questions

Damage and losses

How much hydropower did the Bhote Koshi flood damage?+

The Nepal Electricity Authority reported 14 damaged hydropower and transmission facilities totalling about 748 MW: nine operating plants of 354 MW and five under construction of 394 MW. Named projects include the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1, 120 MW Rasuwa Bhotekoshi, 111 MW Rasuwagadhi, 78 MW Sanjen Khola, 22 MW Chilime, 20 MW Langtang Khola and the Mailung projects, plus the Trishuli 3B 220 kV hub substation, Trishuli 3A, Trishuli and Devighat.

What is the total economic cost of the flood?+

No full assessment exists yet. The first official estimate of Rs 15 billion covers roads and bridges only, and excludes hydropower, the customs corridor, housing, agriculture and lost tourism. For scale, the 2021 Melamchi flood, a smaller event affecting one scheme, has been estimated at up to US$500 million in total economic impact.

Is the Rasuwagadhi border with China open?+

The customs office at Rasuwagadhi was destroyed on 26 August, the second time this crossing has been wrecked in fourteen months after the July 2025 flood took the Friendship Bridge. Rasuwagadhi-Kerung is Nepal's principal working trade crossing with China, carrying roughly Rs 163.73 billion of imports in the reference period, so pressure to reopen it in some form will be intense.

Is the Langtang trek affected?+

Syabrubesi, the road head and gateway for the Langtang and Tamang Heritage treks, suffered serious flood damage, and sections of the Pasang Lhamu Highway linking Kathmandu to Dhunche and Syabrubesi have been damaged or blocked. Operators report itinerary disruption. Notably, two rivers meet at Syabrubesi and only the Bhote Koshi flooded; the Langtang trail follows the other. The Nepal Tourism Board has advised postponing travel to the affected corridor until conditions are restored.

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.