Nepal Floods Death Toll Exceeds 500 as Search Continues for Missing

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

It's been two days since nearly 30-foot-high waves raced down a river between Tibet and Nepal, wiping away communities for miles downstream.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Police in Nepal say the death toll has risen to more than 500 people, and that is just on the Nepal side of the border. More than 1,500 people in total are still missing.

MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Diaa Hadid covers Nepal. She's on the line with us now. Diaa, so it's been two days. What's the latest information about these floods?

DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Search-and-rescue efforts are still ongoing. The water's receded from most places, leaving behind mud and debris. But Santosh Pandey from the aid group Oxfam says one of the worst-affected areas, Rasuwa, is still only accessible by helicopter. So that's how they're getting aid in.

SANTOSH PANDEY: So we are coordinating with the government, providing support, basically, on nonfood items and hygiene kits.

HADID: But because that area is largely inaccessible, it also means the death count is likely to rise further. And now authorities are warning that there might be secondary floods because there's still an overflowing lake in the area where experts say the first glacier collapsed, blocking up a river valley and triggering those major floods. There's concern it might burst. David Fisher is head of Nepal's Red Cross delegation.

DAVID FISHER: We're worried, of course, for the population and for the safety of our own colleagues. We don't have a full view about what kind of intensity would come in a second flood.

HADID: He says, for now, in other devastated areas, aid is getting in.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. It sounds like that area's still very dangerous. What does that mean for the rescue efforts? Are more people likely to be found? Any hope of that?

HADID: Nepali authorities say they've now rescued more than 1,500 people. Some survivors recounted how they fled into forested hills. So there is hope for others, but the situation is so very uncertain. We don't even know yet if those rescued people were even included in the lists of the missing.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. We mentioned how the State Department says 90 Americans are among the foreigners missing. Any of them at all - have any of them been found?

HADID: Yeah, to be clear, the State Department says impacted, not missing. And it appears many of those Americans were Hindu pilgrims, like the in-laws of 28-year-old Ariadna Riley. Her husband's parents, 64-year-old Neelam Kumari Sharma and 65-year-old Ramesh Sharma. She tells NPR they retired and saved to make a pilgrimage to circle Mount Kailash in Tibet. It's a mountain revered by Hindus.

ARIADNA RILEY: They were really excited. They were eager to be able to participate in, for them, an incredible event.

HADID: She says they haven't heard anything so far.

RILEY: We have been tirelessly looking for them. That's just been the most torturous part that anyone can imagine, is not knowing where your family is.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Diaa, that sounds absolutely awful. Has the State Department said anything more about this?

HADID: President Trump expressed his sorrow in the White House yesterday and said his administration offered any help that Nepal needs. So far, the State Department says it's deployed $500,000 to rescue efforts. David Fisher from the Red Cross says they're calling for solidarity.

FISHER: Not just for the first ration for the first day, but to really put them back on their feet.

HADID: And solidarity to help Nepal mitigate the impact of human-caused climate change, which, frankly, they've barely contributed to but are paying a massive price.

FISHER: The climate change is absolutely accelerating disasters. We're not going to be able to cope with them if we don't invest very substantially in risk reduction, early warning.

HADID: To help people flee before the waters come.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Diaa Hadid, who covers Nepal. Diaa, thank you.

HADID: You're welcome, A.

Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.