Ten Torontonians missing after devastating floods in Nepal

A non-profit organization has reported that ten individuals from Toronto are missing in Nepal after devastating flash floods and mudslides swept through the region.

The disaster has resulted in a significant loss of life, with the death toll exceeding 500 and an additional 1,500 people reported missing. Global Affairs Canada has confirmed that at least 30 Canadians are among those unaccounted for near the Nepal-China border.

According to a spokesperson for the Isha Foundation, the ten Torontonians had arrived at the Nepal-China border just minutes before the flooding began. They were considered missing after reaching the Chinese Immigration Centre around the time the catastrophic events unfolded.

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It is biblical, the amount of power when we get ice falling large distances. The amount of kinetic energy is really enormous. And when it hits the water, it just produces these incredible floods downstream. It’s hard to imagine that devastation.

Experts suggest the extreme weather event may have been triggered by a massive glacial collapse high in the Himalayas. A magnitude 5.2 seismic event, initially thought to be an earthquake, was later determined by the U.S. Geological Survey to be caused by a glacial collapse. This event is believed to have unleashed a flow of debris that caused catastrophic downstream impacts.

Professor Kent Moore of the University of Toronto described the phenomenon as "biblical," noting the immense kinetic energy released when ice falls from great heights and impacts water, leading to devastating floods. He also pointed to the role of warming temperatures in destabilizing glaciers, making avalanches more likely.

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A lot of these glaciers are what are called hanging glaciers, and so they’re kind of on very steep slopes and they’re frozen onto the rock. As the area warms, that adhesion with the rock is becoming less strong, and so there’s a greater kind of tendency for these avalanches to occur.