Rescue teams in Nepal have built temporary bridges and dug through the wreckage of Himalayan hydropower stations to reach hundreds of workers still trapped nearly a week after catastrophic flash floods swept through towns and valleys along the Nepal-Tibet border. The confirmed death toll has now passed 1,000, and police have begun asking relatives of the missing to provide blood samples and photographs to help identify victims through DNA testing.
About 600 people remain stuck in several devastated hydropower facilities that have become the central focus of the rescue operation. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said more than 11,000 people had been rescued across the affected region, and that power and communication lines had been restored in some areas. The floods, triggered by intense rainfall in the Himalayas, destroyed roads, bridges, and entire settlements, leaving remote communities cut off from help for days.
The request for DNA samples marks a grim turning point in the disaster response, as authorities shift from search-and-rescue toward victim identification. Relatives of missing tourists and workers have been asked to come forward with blood samples and recent photographs, which forensic teams will use to match against bodies recovered from the mud and debris. The scale of the destruction has made the identification process especially difficult, with many bodies found far from where victims were last seen.
Hydropower projects along the border region have suffered some of the worst losses. Workers were inside tunnels and powerhouse buildings when the floodwaters struck, and many were swept away or buried under collapsed structures. Disaster and tunnel experts say the confined spaces and unstable debris make rescue efforts slow and hazardous. Teams are using heavy equipment to clear entrances while carefully listening for signs of life, but the likelihood of finding more survivors is diminishing with each passing day.
The floods have also raised urgent questions about infrastructure planning in the seismically active and climate-vulnerable Himalayan region. Nepal has invested heavily in hydropower as a source of clean energy and export revenue, but the disaster has exposed the risks of building large facilities in narrow, flood-prone valleys. Scientists have noted that glacial lakes and extreme rainfall events are becoming more common as global temperatures rise, increasing the danger of sudden flash floods in mountain catchments.
Rescue operations continue in the most remote valleys, where helicopters have been ferrying supplies and evacuating the injured. The government has faced criticism over the speed of the initial response, though officials say the scale of the destruction overwhelmed available resources. International aid teams have arrived to assist with search efforts, medical care, and the complex task of identifying the dead.
For the families of the missing, the wait for news remains agonizing. Police stations in the affected districts have set up dedicated desks where relatives can submit DNA samples and file missing-person reports. Authorities have urged families to come forward as soon as possible, warning that the condition of recovered bodies deteriorates quickly in the warm, humid conditions. The identification process is expected to take weeks, and officials have promised to keep families informed as results become available.
The disaster has become one of the deadliest natural catastrophes in Nepal in recent years, and the full scale of the human and economic losses is still being assessed. Reconstruction of roads, bridges, and power lines will take months, and the hydropower sector faces a long recovery. For now, the immediate focus remains on the hundreds still trapped and the thousands of families waiting for answers.
