In flood-ravaged Nepal valley nothing is left standing

From the air, the section of Nepal's ​Trishuli River valley, where rescuers are trying ​to reach hundreds of workers trapped ‌in ​hydroelectric power plants, emerges as an utterly desolate grey expanse. Eight days since the catastrophic flood, the ground has either turned hard like concrete ‌or has become a slippery wet mass, and no signs of any human settlement are visible across wide swathes.

Arriving by helicopter, Reuters photographer Navesh Chitrakar saw excavators trying to move huge boulders from the mouth ‌of a tunnel at Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower plant. But the opening was so small that ‌Nepali rescue workers could only attempt to enter the tunnel by crawling inside. Authorities estimate that some 900 people are trapped inside six hydropower plants in the small Himalayan nation, where a glacier collapse last Wednesday sent a giant wave ⁠of mud, ​rock and water barreling through ⁠mountain valleys, killing over 1,200 people.

Other workers at Upper Trishuli 3A were draining the water from inside the tunnel and ⁠preparing to conduct controlled blasts by drilling into the hulking boulders, so that the excavators could move in deeper. Villages ​like Syabrubesi, once a gateway for Himalayan treks dotted with houses, showed up as a ⁠layer of grey-coloured mud, with only a few buildings remaining.

There were no visible signs of life in this apocalyptic setting, ⁠Chitrakar ​said, and marks on the looming mountains on both sides of the Trishuli river suggested that the flood waters may have climbed as much as 500 meters above normal levels. At the ⁠Gyirong border gate, where surveillance footage showed people attempting to flee seconds before a mudslide engulfed the ⁠crossing between China and ⁠Nepal, some rescue workers could be seen in red uniforms along with some heavy machinery.

But there was nothing left standing, the Reuters photographer said. No buildings, ‌no gate, ‌no bridge.