DistantNews
Support us
🇳🇵 Nepal /Disasters & Emergencies

Oft-battered Langtang Valley cut off after Rasuwa floods

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Floods destroyed roads, bridges and trails linking Nepal’s Langtang Valley with the district headquarters, leaving the popular tourist destination accessible mainly by helicopter.
  • About 15 to 20 tourists remain stranded, while residents have food for roughly one to one-and-a-half months and worry about medical supplies and prolonged isolation.
  • The Bhotekoshi flood affected four local units in Rasuwa after an ice-and-rock mass fell into the Lhende River.

Langtang Valley has escaped the direct force of the Bhotekoshi flood, but the disaster has cut it off from the outside world. Roads, bridges, trails and parts of the market area in Syafrubesi were swept away, severing the route to Dhunche, the headquarters of Rasuwa district.

Residents now reach Dhunche on foot through Thulo Syafrubesi, although the route is in poor condition during the monsoon. The journey takes two days, according to Sandu Chusang, a ward member of Gosainkunda Rural Municipality. Helicopters have been carrying stranded people to Dhunche and onward to Kathmandu, and around 15 to 20 tourists are still waiting for flights.

There is no immediate alternative to a helicopter for travelling to Dhunche and then to Kathmandu.

— Sandu ChusangA local ward member described the lack of road access after the flood.

“Although there is a walking route to Dhunche, the monsoon has damaged it at many places,” Chusang said. Langtang has 116 households and a population of around 450. Residents have enough food for about one to one-and-a-half months, but they fear serious problems if roads and bridges remain unrepaired after that period.

We were not directly affected by the flood, but the roads and trails have been cut off.

— Sandu ChusangHe explained how damage outside Langtang had isolated the valley.

Medical access is another concern. Lakpa Chhiring Tamang, chief of the Langtang Health Post, said the facility has enough medicine until Dashain. Seriously ill patients would have to travel by helicopter to Dhunche and Kathmandu because the road is blocked.

The flood struck four of Rasuwa’s five local units. It followed the fall of an ice-and-rock mass into the Lhende River from the northern side of the Langtang area. The valley, which attracts more than 25,000 domestic and foreign tourists each year, is still recovering from the 2015 earthquake, when an avalanche buried Langtang village and killed around 300 people. The area gradually returned to normal after trails were repaired and hotels rebuilt.

If there are seriously ill patients, there is no option other than taking a helicopter to Dhunche and Kathmandu.

— Lakpa Chhiring TamangThe Langtang Health Post chief warned about emergency medical access.
About this summary

Originally published by Kathmandu Post. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog