Anand Singh was just hours ahead of the disaster. The 53-year-old Bareilly jailer had completed the Kailash Mansarovar parikrama and returned to Kathmandu on August 25. He had travelled through Rasuwa shortly before flash floods hit and was about 120 km away when devastation unfolded.
“I was only 10-12 hours ahead of the disaster, and that saved my life. This time God saved me,” Singh said after returning to work.
Singh was among 46 pilgrims travelling with a Nepali tour operator. It was his second attempt after his 2019 pilgrimage failed.
For others from Uttar Pradesh, the floods brought loss, fear and days of uncertainty.
Varanasi resident Shivani Chaurasia watched her family’s life in Nepal collapse as floodwaters swept through the Trishuli area. Her father Ashok, who has run a cloth business there for nearly two decades, lost his three-storeyed rented house and business worth around ₹4.5 crore, she said.
The family also lost Shivani’s aunt Usha Devi , whose body was recovered, while her cousin Rahul Chaurasiya remains missing.
“Water came suddenly. The level started rising within seconds and there was very little time to flee,” Shivani said.
{{/usCountry}}“Water came suddenly. The level started rising within seconds and there was very little time to flee,” Shivani said.
{{/usCountry}}Her parents and other relatives ran towards a pagoda on higher ground as the water rose.
In Rasuwa, Gorakhpur’s 23-year-old Ashutosh Madi Upadhyaya spent two days stranded before an Army helicopter rescued him. He was flown to Trishuli and later Kathmandu before returning home by bus.
Maharajganj’s Raj Kumar Gautam, a carpenter in Nepal, was also stranded and returned to India on Raksha Bandhan.