At least 95 people were killed in Nepal on Wednesday after a massive flood tore through the border region with Tibet, a police spokesman told AFP.
"So far 95 deaths have been reported," spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle said, adding that some 28 police personnel were also missing.
In a still-unfolding disaster, verified videos showed dozens of people swept away at the border, with authorities on both sides fearing far higher casualties and massive destruction.
Houses, roads and power projects were swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared "major casualties," with some people missing in the county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a border land crossing.
Initial reports suggested an earthquake in the area could have triggered an avalanche and caused the floods, Nepal's foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, told the country's parliament on Wednesday, local media reported.
FIXED CAMERA FOOTAGE SHOWS PEOPLE FLEEING
Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the Nepal-Tibet border showed many people fleeing before a torrent of rock, mud and water destroyed buildings, vehicles and took many lives.
With the deluge of muddy water sweeping down from an estimated nearly 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) above sea level, flood alerts were issued in the populous northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which border Nepal and where several rivers flow down the mountains into the plains.
Authorities in Bihar said they had evacuated about 5,000 people from six districts and planned to evacuate a total of 10,000 to 12,000 people.
Houses and roads were swept away in Nepal while officials in Tibet said they feared "major casualties" with some missing in the county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a land crossing between the neighbours.
Rescue helicopters could not land in Nepal's affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000, officials said, with the river flowing above its normal course.
Television broadcast images of crumbled homes in the flood waters, floating cars and a metal bridge being washed away, while witnesses told Reuters the waters engulfed entire villages.
"There could be heavy casualties or loss of property," said district administrator Narendra Pariyar, who urged dwellers on the banks of the Bhote Koshi river to move to higher ground, after reports of villages and project sites being swept up.
"There is devastation everywhere we look," Tula Bahadur BK, a health worker in Rasuwa, told Reuters. "The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing."
Nepal's rescue helicopters would be unable to land in the affected areas until the waters recede, army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said.
The cause of the inundation was not immediately clear, but a deadly flash flood on the same river last year was eventually traced to the draining of a glacier lake.
China says Gyirong port affected
China's official Xinhua news agency said the mudslide occurred on the Nepali side and hit the Gyirong port to cut roads, communications and power links in the Shigatse region near the border with Nepal, but did not elaborate.
President Xi Jinping urged "all-out" search efforts for the missing as well as stronger monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.
Nepal's energy ministry said 430 MW of electricity supplies were affected, mostly from hydroelectric projects, or more than 12% of total national hydropower capacity of 3.2 GW, a Reuters calculation showed.
Police and military were joining in the rescue effort, said Prime Minister Balendra Shah.
"Instructions have been given ... to move the people living in the lower areas to safer places," he said. "People along the river are advised to exercise extra caution and remain alert."
From its origins in Tibet, the Bhote Koshi river empties into Nepal's Trishuli river that eventually flows into India as the Gandak river.
Last year's Bhote Koshi flood killed nine people, with 24 missing, as it washed away a 'Friendship Bridge' linking Nepal and China to disrupt trade and transport for months.
That flood was triggered by the draining of a supraglacial lake in Tibet, a regional climate monitor said.
Reuters