Nepal-Tibet Flash Flood: What Caused the Disaster That Killed Over 390 People
Before dawn broke fully over the Himalayas on Wednesday, August 26, a slab of ice perched more than five kilometers above sea level let go of the mountain beneath it - and within hours, a Nepal-Tibet flash flood had killed more than 390 people and left over 1,400 others unaccounted for on both sides of the border. What began as a geological event nobody saw coming has since exposed a harder truth: the region's flood-warning systems, built and refined over four decades, were never designed to catch a threat like this one.
How the Collapse Happened
Satellite imagery reviewed by scientists shows that a large section of the lower Langtang Lirung glacier sheared away at roughly 5,200 meters and fell close to 1,200 meters down the mountainside, picking up rock and loose sediment as it went...
