Rescue teams were searching for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border after a catastrophic and deadly torrent of floods and mud swept through several communities a day earlier following a glacial collapse.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority in Nepal said 826 people were missing and the death toll from the country’s flash floods rose to 165 on Thursday. Nepalese authorities ramped up operations in the worst-affected districts of Nuwakot and Rasuwa.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV separately reported that 260 of the 558 missing people in Tibet were foreigners and two villagers were rescued. At least three people were killed as of Thursday morning, it said.

The disaster in Nepal and Tibet is not a one-off. The Lhende Khola river system has now flooded twice in just 14 months and the increasingly unstable Himalayan ice system threatens communities, infrastructure and water supplies across one of the world’s most densely populated regions.

A map showing districts impacted by a flash flood in Nepal. (AP Digital Embed)

The region saw similar flash floods in August last year, when a glacial lake in Tibet overflowed because of high temperatures. Nine people were killed, and critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting Nepal and China, was damaged.

Drone footage in Nepal showed roads destroyed and buildings buried by thundering water the color of wet cement.

The region’s steep valleys are economic lifelines and travel corridors but are precarious when disaster strikes. Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Debris hung from tree........

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