Thousands Still Missing as Nepal Flood Search Enters Second Week

Floods and mudslides that tore through the mountain valleys along the Nepal-China border have left roughly 2,400 people unaccounted for, and families across three continents are still waiting for word.

Four days after walls of water that witnesses described as close to 30 feet high, Nepalese authorities had recovered 734 bodies. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimates more than 90,000 people were affected.

Thousands of government workers and rescue crews have been deployed across the worst-hit districts, and teams were still pulling survivors out over the weekend. They are working against obstructed roads, fresh landslides and destroyed infrastructure. The Bhote Koshi river — its name means "Tibetan river" — destroyed the Gyirong border checkpoint and the Friendship Bridge linking Nepal and China. Chinese state footage showed mud and water crashing through the border complex.

Foreign nationals among the missing

The State Department said 85 U.S. citizens remained unaccounted for as of Sunday morning, and that nine had been safely evacuated. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said no American deaths had been confirmed, that staffing had been increased at the embassies in Beijing and Kathmandu, and that $3.6 million in emergency aid had been activated, including food support intended to feed about 10,000 households for up to three months.

Divya Chandrashekar described her brother-in-law, Ragu Rajan, and his wife, Archana Suresh, as devoted parents who had planned their pilgrimage to Mount Kailash for a year. The couple, from Murphy, Texas, left Kathmandu on Aug. 25 and were reported near the Gyirong border post on the morning the floods struck. That is the last place anyone knows they were.

Shreya Ahuja, who lives in North Carolina, spoke to her parents, Deepak and Madhu Ahuja, small-business owners in Dallas, hours before the water came. They had finished the pilgrimage and were heading back toward the border post. "Initially I wasn't too worried," she said, describing the calls and messages that went unanswered as the day went on.

Relief moving slowly

Catholic Relief Services has begun distributing the first $500,000 of emergency funds, but blocked roads and unstable ground are slowing deliveries. Senthil Kumar Gurunathan, the organization's South Asia representative, said survivors often fled with nothing and need food, clean water, clothing, menstrual hygiene supplies and mental health support, and that teams are searching for safer alternative routes into cut-off communities.

First shipments have reached Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts: blankets, mosquito nets, insulating foam sheets for shelter floors and several tons of food. Nepal's weather service warned of heavy rain across the central hills and mountains through Tuesday, raising the risk of further flash floods, debris flows and landslides on roads that rescue teams are only just reopening.