Tracing the deadly way of the Nepal-Tibet flash flood
ByPaul Brown and Adam Durbin
BBC Verify
New outer imagery has revealed the standard of the devastation on Nepal's Trishuli River caused by Wednesday's deadly flash flood, triggered by a glacier collapse.
Before-and-after images amusement however sections of the valley, wherever a torrent of floodwater and debris surged through, destroyed villages, bridges and hydroelectric powerfulness stations.
More than 550 radical person been killed, Nepalese officials say, with hundreds much missing.
Among the worst-hit locations reviewed by BBC Verify was a cardinal Nepal-Tibet borderline crossing, which was engulfed by a unreserved of floodwater and captured connected camera.
The outer imagery from US-based quality steadfast Vantor, shows the tract has been astir wholly washed away. Shocking CCTV footage showed the infinitesimal arsenic the deluge of h2o swept implicit buildings arsenic radical tried to escape.
Damage and mud tin beryllium seen much than 2.5km (1.5 miles) upstream, reaching 100m (330 ft) supra the country it archetypal hit.
A fewer miles further southbound is the colony of Timure, which has present mostly disappeared.
The walls of the vale astatine this constituent are steep, reaching up to 50m supra the h2o line. The representation shows astir of the houses perched connected this slope are present gone oregon covered successful mud.
A further 10km (eight miles) downstream, wherever the Trishuli River winds done Syapru Besi, outer imagery present shows the colony covered by mud, stone and different debris. Houses and different structures person disappeared, including bridges and a hydroelectric powerfulness station.
One of the larger villages to beryllium struck by the afloat unit of the flood was Trishuli, wherever immoderate of the earliest verified footage of the catastrophe emerged from.
A outer representation of the municipality and surrounding cultivation land, which is astir 45km (28 miles) downstream from the border, amusement an full neighbourhood has been fundamentally washed away.
Verified videos of the municipality amusement a span collapsing arsenic the stream surges forward. At the precise aforesaid infinitesimal from crushed level, footage filmed from wrong a autobus shows radical crying retired successful distress and trying to fly arsenic they spot the h2o rushing down the river.
Other dramatic videos amusement radical sheltering wrong a house, peering implicit the borderline of a balcony arsenic they ticker a torrent of floodwater lavation distant astir everything astir them, knocking ample metallic debris and a conveyance toward the building.
Somehow the location remains intact and survivors tin beryllium seen successful a 2nd verified video lasting surrounded by mud erstwhile the floodwater had receded.
Imagery from outer supplier Planet Labs released contiguous has besides provided a clearer presumption of the disaster's origins astatine the collapsed glacier, the infinitesimal of which has been captured connected a verified drone video.
The outer representation shows an tremendous chunk of the glacier has fallen away, carving an tremendous way of stone and debris wherever h2o rushed done the valley.
At the basal of the landslide, trees and different vegetation person been stripped astatine a tallness of much than 300m supra the riverbed.
This destructive way continues westwards on with the swelled river, earlier heading southwards.
Satellite images besides amusement the enactment of a obstruction water astatine the basal of the landslide's path, which Chinese authorities person warned poses a large hazard of further flooding and has hampered rescue efforts.
Dr Argha Banerjee, a glaciologist astatine the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, told BBC Verify that it was not imaginable find from the images however unchangeable the obstruction was oregon however apt the water was to drain suddenly.
But helium said determination was nary important summation successful its aboveground country betwixt Wednesday and Thursday, contempt h2o continuing to travel into the lake.
Dr Banerjee said determination was a disposable drainage channel, which suggests immoderate h2o was already escaping downstream, adding that the its measurement was "not alarmingly large" and appeared to person stabilised.
The grade of the harm connected the Tibetan broadside of the borderline remains unclear. It is simply a strictly controlled portion which China annexed successful the 1950s, wherever overseas media entree is heavy restricted. BBC Verify has truthful acold been incapable find verifiable footage from the area.
The outer imagery - which lone provides an archetypal glimpse into the harm of the flood - has been published by Vantor arsenic portion of its Open Data Program to assistance assistance authorities found wherever champion to absorption their efforts to find the missing, rescue survivors and retrieve the dead.
Additional reporting Shruti Menon, Merlyn Thomas and Alex Murray. Graphics by Mezut Ersoz.
English (US)·