Nepal is racing to restore vital road links severed by devastating flash floods, seeking temporary bridges from India and China as authorities work to reconnect isolated communities in the disaster-hit areas.
The death toll from the August 26 disaster stood at 1,356 as of Monday (September 7, 2026), while 4,994 people remained missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). A total of 13,396 people have been rescued so far. The disaster also killed at least 43 people on the Chinese side, while more than 500 people remain missing in Tibet, according to Chinese media reports.
“Even where Bailey bridges are available, there is no road to transport them to the sites. Work is underway to reopen the tracks damaged by the floods,” Mr. Meanwhile, the scale of the infrastructure damage has added to the challenges facing rescue and recovery operations, with authorities also struggling to identify bodies recovered from the floodwaters.
Because roads leading to several locations have themselves been swept away, Sushil Babu Dhakal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said, the Department of Roads has 11 Bailey bridges, each up to 48 metres long, but transporting them to the damaged sites remains a major challenge.
Dhakal said.
