Stranded for two days in flood-hit Nepal, Mandi resident recalls ordeal

The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages, leaving a trail of destruction. The death toll has reached more than 1200 and over 5000 remain missing.

A 50-year-old resident of Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district, Gian Singh returned home after surviving the devastating flash floods in Nepal. He said he was on duty at the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project in Rasuwa when the disaster struck.

Gian Singh moved to Nepal around eight months ago, in January, after working with a hydropower construction company in Chamba.

Singh, who worked as a foreman at the project, spent two terrifying days before being rescued by the Nepal Army in a helicopter. “Our reporting time was 7 am. That morning, the weather was good and it was sunny. We had no idea that something like this could happen,” he said.

“We were working inside the powerhouse and, at around 9.30 am, cold winds suddenly started blowing. It was unusual. We had never experienced such winds before. When we heard a loud noise, I rushed outside and shouted, ‘Bhaago, bhaago!’ (Run, run!). I saw three men approaching. They appeared to be drenched in water and covered in mud. They told me that water had entered the area. At that point, we did not realise that it was a massive flood,” Singh said.

“We came out through an exit tunnel, and there were around 110 of us. Only one person had remained inside. At around 10 am, we moved to a small nearby hillside for safety and stayed there for about two to three hours until the situation calmed down a little. We were terrified and thought we might not survive,” he said.

Recalling the devastation, he said, “When we eventually came down to the camp, we saw that nothing was left. Our camps, vehicles, stores—everything had been washed away. It was a horrific scene. People who had been on night duty, storekeepers and other staff, were staying there. The machinery and everything else were gone. I have heard that around 98 people from our company are still missing.”

“We stayed in the control building until evening. That night, around 10 pm, we received a message warning that another flood could come. We returned to the hillside and stayed there for three to four hours. Once we felt the situation had become normal, we came back to the building and stayed there,” he said.

“On August 27, the Nepal Army arrived and told us that they would rescue us. We were later evacuated by helicopter and, around 5 pm, taken to the Bhattar Army camp, where we were provided food, medicines and other essential items. From there, we were taken to Kathmandu, where we stayed in a hotel for three days. We were later flown to Delhi on September 1,” he added.