Nepal Floods: Family Trapped On Balcony As Floodwaters Gush Around House, New Terrifying Video Shows

Terrifying footage emerging from the Nepal-Tibet border shows a family stranded on the balcony of a house as powerful flash flood waters gush around the building, with debris being swept along in the torrent and chaos audible in the background.

The footage captures at least three people on what appears to be a second-floor balcony, watching helplessly as muddy floodwaters surge around their home.

Live Updates On Nepal Floods

The video offers a stark glimpse of the force of the flash floods that tore through the region on Wednesday, leaving hundreds dead and hundreds more missing.

In the newly emerged footage, the house appears isolated amid the fast-moving floodwaters.

Large quantities of muddy water can be seen rushing around the structure, while

debris is carried along by the current.

The people on the balcony appear unable to leave the building as the waters continue to flow around them. Sounds of panic and chaos can be heard as the floodwaters pound through the area.

According to the Associated Press, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said Friday that the death toll from the flash floods that struck Wednesday had risen to 538.

The number of missing people stood at 977, while 14,829 security personnel had been mobilised for search and rescue operations, the authority said.

So far, 3,742 people have been rescued.

The AP reported that thousands of people have been evacuated, while rescue teams continue to search areas devastated by the flooding.

Nepali police also issued a fresh alert after receiving information that a dam on the Tibet side had burst.

Security personnel and rescue and relief workers were instructed to remain on high alert and move to safe locations if necessary.

It remained unclear whether the reported dam burst was connected to concerns over a barrier lake that formed after the initial flash floods on the Chinese side of the Himalayas.

Rescuers Race To Reach Stranded People

The rescue operation has continued amid concerns over further flooding.

Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told AP that the operation was continuing but under high alert.

“It hasn’t stopped,” Kafle told the Associated Press.

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The AP reported that rescue workers heading towards the worst-hit area at Gyirong were temporarily ordered to stop on Friday morning because of concerns that the newly formed lake could overflow.

Around 680 rescuers eventually reached the area by foot and raft, while some were lowered into the disaster zone using drones, according to CCTV footage cited by AP.

In Rasuwa, Nepal Army rescuers were also working to reach people trapped inside a hydropower tunnel.

Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet told AP that the priority remained finding and rescuing survivors, despite the difficult conditions.

The AP reported that 3,253 people had been airlifted by helicopter from the disaster zone, with survivors and injured people taken to Kathmandu and other locations.

Survivors Recall A Sudden Wall Of Water

The devastation shown in the footage is consistent with accounts from survivors who described the flood arriving with little warning.

Customs officer Karbir Gaire, who survived in Timure near the China border, told AP that he felt the ground shake while working at his office on Wednesday morning.

“Right after the shake, I noticed a black storm coming towards us,” he recalled.

Gaire said he and others immediately ran uphill, adding that they had only seconds to escape.

“It was like a Hollywood movie scene. I don’t call it a flood, it was a tsunami,” he told AP.

Scientists studying satellite imagery said a collapse involving bedrock beneath a glacier in the Himalayan region sent rock and melted water into rivers below, producing the powerful torrent that swept through parts of Tibet and Nepal.

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