{"id":7053331,"date":"2026-09-01T02:33:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/what-triggered-the-devastating-floods-in-nepal-and-tibet-and-are-we-due-for-more-in-the-future-heres-what-scientists-know-so-far\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T02:33:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:33:45","slug":"what-triggered-the-devastating-floods-in-nepal-and-tibet-and-are-we-due-for-more-in-the-future-heres-what-scientists-know-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7053331","title":{"rendered":"What Triggered the Devastating Floods in Nepal and Tibet, and Are We Due for More in the Future? Here’s What Scientists Know So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Natural hazards researchers suspect that a landslide involving a glacier triggered the event, and they say more could happen because of human-caused climate change<\/h2>\n
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Sara Hashemi<\/a><\/p>\n

| Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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Streets affected by the catastrophic floods are now covered in mud.
\n Prakash Mathema \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/span>
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On August 26, devastating flash floods washed away buildings, bridges and other infrastructure near the border between Nepal and China-governed Tibet. The natural disaster\u00a0has killed more than 900 people and left nearly 5,000 missing<\/a>\u00a0as of August 31, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us,\u201d recalls Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor, to a team of reporters at the\u00a0Guardian<\/em><\/a>. \u201cMy wife is still somewhere beneath the mud. She\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what caused the catastrophic event, and could more like it happen in the future? Scientists are still putting the pieces together. Here\u2019s what they know so far.<\/p>\n

What caused the flooding?<\/h2>\n

According to the U.S. Geological Survey<\/a>\u2019s August 27 update, an event in Nepal\u2019s L\u0101\u1e45\u1e6d\u0101\u1e47 National Park in the Himalayas triggered the flooding. The agency says that either a landslide carrying a glacier or a glacier collapse, in which part of it snaps off, may have generated the energy equivalent to a magnitude-5.2 earthquake. Then, debris tumbled downward and triggered the floods.<\/p>\n

Many scientists are heavily leaning toward the landslide explanation. The physics of the glacier collapse hypothesis didn\u2019t hold up, according to some natural hazards researchers in a Slack group analyzing the event, reports Science<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Hannah Richter. What\u2019s more, satellite images obtained the evening of August 26 show a bald mountain, hinting at a giant landslide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe glacier just came along for the ride,\u201d G\u00f6ran Ekstr\u00f6m<\/a>, a seismologist at Columbia University, tells the outlet. \u00a0<\/p>\n

However, experts still aren\u2019t sure where all the water came from. At first, scientists thought that a glacial lake had collapsed, but satellite imagery and weather data didn\u2019t suggest any big ones were forming in the region, Ekstr\u00f6m tells Mohana Basu at\u00a0Nature<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more likely that the rush of ice and sediments from the landslide accumulated river water as it barreled downstream, Kristen Cook<\/a>, a geomorphologist at Grenoble Alpes University in France, tells\u00a0Science<\/em>. The USGS says the glacial debris picked up rocky material and water as it sped downhill, generating a debris flow and flood that traveled around 62 miles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201cjust a gobsmackingly unbelievable amount of water,\u201d says\u00a0Daniel Shugar<\/a>, a geologist at the University of Calgary in Canada, to Laura Paddison, Angela Fritz and Ivana Kottasov\u00e1 at\u00a0CNN<\/a>. \u201cFiguring out where that water came from is actually probably the hardest thing about all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did climate change play a role?<\/h2>\n

While no attribution study has been done yet, scientists already know that rising global temperatures caused by human activity are destabilizing glaciers in the Himalayas<\/a>, which contain some of the world\u2019s tallest slopes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no question that this event was made more likely because of climate change and that we\u2019re seeing more likely other similar glacier hazards occurring,\u201d says\u00a0Twila Moon<\/a>, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, to NPR<\/a>\u2019s Ava Berger, Diaa Hadid and Julia Simon.<\/p>\n

Not only are thousands of glaciers losing ice at\u00a0unprecedented rates<\/a>;\u00a0the permafrost they sit atop is also\u00a0thawing<\/a>. As that frozen blend of soil, rocks and organic material warms, the mountains and surrounding ice become less stable. In turn, this \u201ccan result in massive landslides, triggering a number of cascading processes that can lead to a massive flood and destruction downstream,\u201d Alton Byers<\/a>, a mountain geographer at the University of Colorado Boulder, tells\u00a0Nature<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Quick fact: Glacier melt<\/p>\n

Last year, researchers reported that even under the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal\u2014keeping the global average temperature no higher than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above the pre-industrial level\u2014Earth might lose half of its 200,000 glaciers<\/a> by 2100.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Scientists say events like this are probably going to become more common as the world continues to heat up. That\u2019s why Shisir Khanal<\/a>, Nepal\u2019s Minister for Foreign Affairs, called for a \u201cglobal effort\u201d to address climate change during an August 29 press conference, per the BBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe request the global community to come together and preserve the Himalayan ecosystem,\u201d he said. The country is one of the world\u2019s lowest contributors of planet-warming greenhouse gases, but it faces some of the worst impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n

Shugar echoes that sentiment to\u00a0PBS News<\/a>\u2019 Geoff Bennett. \u201cWe need to be stepping up to help mitigate these risks and to enhance the resiliency of people living in these environments that are subject to these disasters that, when there\u2019s a climate change link, we in the rich West are largely responsible for,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

What comes next?<\/h2>\n

Rescue efforts are still underway, and it will likely take weeks to recover all victims. That includes survivors who are stuck atop buildings that rescue teams are struggling to access and hundreds of workers who are\u00a0trapped<\/a>\u00a0in hydropower tunnels.<\/p>\n

A monthslong cleanup effort will follow, and some people may never find their loved ones\u2019 bodies, which may have even been swept to India, reports the\u00a0Guardian<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Hannah Ellis-Petersen.<\/p>\n

According to Reuters<\/a>\u2019 Saurabh Sharma, Nepali officials estimate that it will cost $4 billion to $5 billion, or about\u00a0a tenth of the country\u2019s economy, to rebuild.<\/p>\n

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