'The flood took everything': Nepal survivors describe horror of loved ones being swept away

Massive flash floods in Nepal claimed at least 469 lives and left several hundred people missing after devastating entire villages on the border of Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday. Rescuers worked tirelessly through thick mud and debris on Thursday, as Nepalese authorities scrambled to provide aid and relief supplies to the affected regions.

Kalpana Malla, a survivor from Nepal's Nuwakot district, recounted how her parents, sister, and her sister's children were swept away by the flood. "They could not escape the flood; there was no chance at all," she said, adding that she and her son survived by climbing the rooftop of a house.

Sugam Malla shared his own harrowing experience, stating that he saved his mother by pulling her hand. However, he expressed concern for his sister, who had been unreachable as her phone was no longer functional. Goma Pandit described the loss of her buffaloes, cattle, farmland, and her extensive harvest of mustard seeds, corn, and rice paddy.

At Kathmandu's TU Teaching Hospital, families of the missing in the floods anxiously awaited updates, holding up their phones in hopes of finding their loved ones. Ram Khumari Shrestha's husband was last heard from at 8 pm the previous evening, but her phone had been switched off by morning.

Mani Shrestha Bishwa waited at the hospital, hoping to hear from his younger brother, cousin, uncle, and friend, last contacted at 8:30 am. Trekking guide Sonam Dorjee narrowly missed the flood in his village of Rasiwa Syafru by about an hour, describing the sound of the floods as "like an earthquake." His sister, Dechen Tamang, her husband, and several family members were missing. Dorjee expressed his hope that his sister would be found alive, stating that there was a 10% chance of a positive outcome.