Himalayan village in Nepal hit by icy floods
A Sherpa village in Nepal’s Everest region has been overwhelmed by icy floodwaters, according to officials.
Experts believe the flooding in Thame, a village situated at around 3,800 meters in altitude, was triggered by a glacial lake bursting its banks.
Scientists have long warned that climate change is accelerating the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas.
No casualties have been reported, but over a dozen structures, including homes, a school, and a health clinic, were destroyed in Friday’s flood.
Thame, known for being the home of record-holding Sherpa mountaineers and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay—who, alongside Edmund Hillary, was the first to summit Mount Everest—was hit hard by the deluge.
Videos show muddy, debris-laden waters surging through the village. Gaurav Kumar KC, a spokesman for the Nepalese army, told AFP that around 15 houses were swept away, while rescue teams are assisting residents to safety.
Local authorities say bad weather did not permit the use of helicopters during their investigation, adding they plan to fly to the mountains on Saturday morning.
While the cause of the flood is unknown, Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a climate change specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said there are “indications” it was the result of a glacial lake outburst and they were working to confirm it.
Scientists have warned that Himalayan glaciers are melting because of climate change and creating glacial lakes, often dammed by loose rock and debris, which makes them unstable and prone to bursting their banks.
Hundreds of glacial lakes formed from glacial melt have appeared out of nowhere in the Himalayas in recent decades. According to a 2020 report by the ICIMOD, 2,070 were documented in Nepal, of which 21 were ranked “potentially dangerous”.
