The popular tourist destination of Langtang in Rasuwa has been cut off from the district headquarters Dhunche following the Bhotekoshi floods of August 26.

With bridges, roads, trails and parts of the market area in Syabrubesi swept away, people now have to walk via Thulo Syabrubesi to reach Dhunche, said Sandu Chusang, a ward member of Langtang in Gosainkunda Rural Municipality-4.

“The trail through Thulo Syabrubesi is also in poor condition during the monsoon,” he said over the phone. “There is no immediate alternative to a helicopter for travelling to Dhunche and then to Kathmandu. Helicopters are also ferrying people stranded here to Dhunche.”

Four of the five local units in Rasuwa were directly affected by the floods. Wards 1, 2, 3 and 5 of Gosainkunda Rural Municipality were directly affected, while wards 4 and 6 were spared damage. Although Langtang itself was not directly hit by the flood, the destruction of roads and bridges has severed its connection with the outside world, Chusang said.

“We were not directly affected by the flood, but the roads and trails have been cut off. There is no remaining road connection between Syabrubesi and Dhunche. The bridge has also been swept away. Tourists were evacuated by helicopter,” he said. “Around 15 to 20 tourists are still waiting for helicopters. Although there is a walking route to Dhunche, the monsoon has damaged it at many places.”

Chusang said locals were hoping that the government would extend assistance to Langtang after completing rescue operations in the flood-affected wards.

“It now takes two days to reach Dhunche on foot. We have enough food for about one to one-and-a-half months. But if the roads and bridges are not restored after that, Langtang will face serious problems,” he said.

According to the ward office, Langtang has 116 households and a population of around 450. More than 25,000 domestic and foreign tourists visit the Langtang Valley, mountains, Lirung, Yala Peak and Kyanjin Valley every year.

The Bhotekoshi flood was triggered after an ice-and-rock mass fell into the Lhende river from the northern side of the Langtang area.

Following the flood, Lakpa Chhiring Tamang, chief of the Langtang Health Post, travelled by helicopter to Dhunche and then to Kathmandu. He said the health post has enough medicines to last until Dashain, but supplies could become a problem after that.

“We had brought medicines just three days before the flood. The road is now blocked. If there are seriously ill patients, there is no option other than taking a helicopter to Dhunche and Kathmandu,” he said.

Langtang has faced disasters before. The area suffered extensive damage in the 2015 earthquake. It gradually returned to normal from 2018 after trekking trails were repaired and improved and hotels were rebuilt.

In the 2015 earthquake, an avalanche fell from the southern face of Langtang Lirung and buried Langtang village. Around 300 people were killed.

Besides Dhunche and Langtang, the flood damaged Syabrubesi, Timure, Thuman, Briddim and other areas of Gosainkunda Rural Municipality.

Arjun Prasad Dotel, information officer at the rural municipality, said seven elected representatives, including the vice-chairperson, and 21 employees had been evacuated. According to him, Vice-chairperson Pratima Tamang and two ward chairpersons remain out of contact.

Twenty-one employees, teachers and health workers are also out of contact. The remaining employees have been rescued and brought to Dhunche.

The road and bridge connecting Trishuli with Betrabati were swept away by the flood, severing the road link to Dhunche as well. Relief and rescue supplies are being transported from Kathmandu to Dhunche through an alternative road. According to the local administration, helicopters have also been transporting relief and rescue materials to Dhunche.

The flood also caused damage at several locations inside Langtang National Park.

Shyam Kumar Shah, chief of the park office in Dhunche, said posts at seven locations in the Timure, Mailung and Syabrubesi areas were swept away.

The Bhotekoshi river runs along the boundary of the national park. Shah said trees in the surrounding park area were swept away, but no wildlife casualties had been reported.

Three national park employees remain out of contact.

Shah said the route from Dhunche to Langtang remains difficult.

“It is not easy to travel from Syabrubesi. It is also extremely difficult to reach Dhunche at present. However, Langtang Valley can be reached through the route from Sindhupalchok,” he said.

He said the situation was particularly difficult for tourists because it was no longer possible to transport daily necessities from Dhunche to Langtang and Gosainkunda.

Following the flood, tourists stranded in Langtang and Gosainkunda were evacuated through Dupcheshwar in Nuwakot. According to data, the two tourist destinations received 53,000 visitors in the last fiscal year. Langtang is particularly popular among foreign tourists, while Gosainkunda attracts more domestic visitors.

Road links with Uttargaya, Aamachhodingmo, Kalika and Naukunda rural municipalities, as well as Gosainkunda, have also been severed.

All five wards of Uttargaya Rural Municipality, and Ward 1 of Aamachhodingmo and Kalika rural municipalities, suffered flood damage. Naukunda Rural Municipality was not directly hit but has been affected by the disruption of road links.

Naukunda Vice-chairperson Chandra Bahadur Galan said 67 residents of the rural municipality remained out of contact.

“The road connecting Naukunda Rural Municipality has been severed. We are travelling through an alternative dirt road via Suryagadhi in Nuwakot,” he said.

People's representatives from Uttargaya and Kalika rural municipalities have also complained that the disruption of communication and transport networks has made relief and rescue operations difficult.

Rasuwa lawmaker Mohan Acharya said the district's entire road network had been destroyed. He said it would be impossible to deliver relief supplies across the district without the assistance of the Nepal Army.

“There are no roads left. It is impossible to bring supplies by vehicle. Those who could go to Kathmandu have already left. Those who cannot are still in their villages. There is a possibility of shortages of fuel, cooking gas, salt and rice,” he said.

Acharya said the government should prioritise rebuilding road connections because there was no alternative to helicopters for local movement and relief and rescue operations.

According to the 2021 national census, Rasuwa has a population of 46,689. Before the floods, the district had 14,281 households. The extent of damage to individual homes has yet to be determined.

Rasuwa is predominantly inhabited by the Tamang community, with 32,127 Tamang residents. The district also has 6,211 Brahmin residents.