Search Intensifies for Bartlett Woman Missing in Nepal Floods That Killed 950

Q: What triggered the sudden 9-meter wall of water that vanished a 50-person pilgrimage group in the remote Himalayas?

The 9-meter wall of water was most likely triggered by a glacier collapse high above the Nepal-Tibet border, not by an earthquake. Investigators and satellite analyses indicate that a large section of the lower part of a glacier near the Langtang/Lhende Khola area broke off at roughly 5,200 meters elevation and plunged about 1,200 meters onto the valley floor. That collapse sent ice, rock and debris into the Lhende Khola, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi River. Experts say the debris likely temporarily dammed the river, creating a short-lived lake. When that natural blockage failed, it unleashed a violent surge of water, mud, boulders and ice downstream through the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems. That is what produced the sudden flood wave that rose as much as 9 meters in about 30 minutes, leaving little time to escape. The event was initially mistaken for an earthquake because the collapse generated a seismic signal equivalent to about magnitude 5.2. But the U.S. Geological Survey later said the seismic energy came from the glacier-and-rock collapse itself, not from a tectonic quake. Scientists are still studying why the glacier failed. Early expert assessments point to instability in steep high-mountain terrain, with warming-driven glacier melt and thawing permafrost seen as likely contributing factors that can weaken ice and rock on Himalayan slopes.

3 articles · Updated · NBC Chicago · Sep 1

Late Monday, relatives stepped up efforts to find Poonam Thakkar, a Bartlett woman missing in Nepal after last week’s catastrophic floods.
Around 50 travelers in Thakkar’s Himalayan Glacier tour group remain missing, and her sister said family members had already arrived in Kathmandu to help search.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi urged the State Department to use every available resource, while Thakkar’s family also appealed for help from Canadian officials because she holds dual citizenship.
More than 950 people have been killed across Nepal and Tibet, with over 4,400 still missing, underscoring the scale of the disaster facing search teams.