Nepal sought China’s early warning months ago, got one less than 5 minutes before floods

Nepal suffered devastating flash floods on August 26, resulting in at least 800 deaths and over 3,000 people missing near the border with China. Despite officials from both countries meeting a month prior to discuss flood monitoring and response, Nepal did not receive timely early warnings from China. Hydrologist Sauhardra Joshi stated they wanted to know about early movements of glaciers around the region, but received no such information.

Chief executive Dharam Raj Uprety of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said people only had five minutes of lead time before the disaster. Nepal lacks weather stations in high mountain areas due to poor trans-boundary data sharing. Similar concerns were raised after a 2019 flash flood in Tibet killed nine people and left over a dozen missing in both countries.

China claims all data was shared on time, but Nepali officials dispute this. In response, China's President Xi Jinping called for faster glacier and glacial lake surveys to prevent future disasters and stronger monitoring and early-warning systems.