For Raju Budhathoki, a customs agent working at the Rasuwa Customs Office in Timure, Wednesday morning became one of the most terrifying mornings of his life.

Budhathoki, a resident of Manthali Municipality-13 in Ramechhap, had been resting in his room, as he did on any other day. At around 8:45am, however, the mountain beneath him suddenly began to shake.

“I was asleep when the whole hillside suddenly started shaking as if there had been an earthquake,” Budhathoki recalled from his hospital bed in Trishuli. “The houses began trembling. There was no time to think about what was happening. I ran outside in whatever clothes I was wearing, just trying to save my life.”

He ran towards a nearby police post, only to find the police themselves fleeing for safety. As he scrambled past the post’s wire fence, he injured his hand.

When he turned back, he saw houses in the Timure market being swept away one after another by the flood. Some disappeared into the raging river within seconds.

“I managed to reach a forest about 500 metres uphill, and that is where I finally saved myself,” he said. “From the forest, when I looked down at Timure, I never imagined I would get a second chance at life like this. Now everything feels like a terrible dream.”

Budhathoki’s ordeal was part of the devastation caused by Wednesday’s Bhotekoshi flood. The catastrophic flooding and landslides around Rasuwa’s Rasuwagadhi border area, including the settlement of Timure, left a trail of destruction that is difficult to comprehend.

Police and rescue teams have so far recovered the bodies of 389 people as of 9pm on Thursday, while hundreds remain missing. Search operations for possible survivors and the recovery of bodies are continuing at full scale.

Yet amid the devastation and staggering human loss, people like Budhathoki say they feel as though they have been given a second life.

Those who escaped the surging floodwaters, collapsing hillsides and settlements plunged into darkness are now receiving treatment at hospitals and shelters in Bidur, Trishuli and Kathmandu.

The scenes of death remain vivid in their minds. Alongside the relief of having survived is the deep pain of losing colleagues, friends and relatives.

Prakash Gautam, from Gokarneshwar in Kathmandu, is one of them. He too came face to face with death.

Gautam, who also worked as a customs agent at the Rasuwa Customs Office, was in his room in Timure on Wednesday morning.

“Suddenly there was a huge rumbling sound. Within moments, the whole market was engulfed in darkness, and the sky was covered by a black cloud,” he said. “I ran out of my room without knowing what I was doing. I had no idea where to go or which way to run. I just wanted to survive.”

He suffered a deep injury to the little toe of his left foot while fleeing. But for someone who escaped death, the wound barely matters.

“The injury does not matter. At least I survived,” he said. “From the forest above, I could see bodies scattered and floating in the floodwaters. Before my eyes, beautiful Timure was reduced to ruins. The houses and settlements were swept away. Now there is nothing but a vast expanse of sand and mud.”

Unable to be rescued during the day, Gautam and others spent Wednesday night in the forest.

“We barely managed to get through the night, eating packets of noodles dropped by a Nepali Army helicopter,” he recalled. “At around 10am on Thursday, a Nepali Army helicopter arrived and flew us to Bidur. Only after boarding the helicopter did I feel that I had actually survived. We were relieved once we landed in Bidur. I have returned after being given a new life in the most difficult circumstances.”

For Tulsi Bahadur Bhandari of Dolakha, Wednesday was also a direct encounter with death.

A torrent of black mud and floodwater suddenly poured down from the mountains, engulfing the settlement within moments. Bhandari was caught in the flood as he tried to flee.

“The houses began collapsing one after another. I had no idea where the black torrent had come from or what was happening,” he said from his hospital bed. “Once everything started collapsing, I ran. But the force of the flood hit me and threw me violently.”

The powerful surge pushed Bhandari towards the hillside.

“If the current had not thrown me towards the slope, I would not be alive today,” he said. “Being hurled towards the hillside kept me from being swept away. That is how I survived.”

Ram Kumar Rana, who was caring for injured relatives at the hospital, said the force of the flood was so overwhelming that some people were buried in sand and mud as they tried to escape.

“The surge hit them as they were running and buried them. Rescue teams, with the help of helicopters, later pulled them out and brought them here,” Rana said. “The water kept rising. In the chaos, small children panicked and ran about screaming. Some fell and broke their arms.”

According to Rana, the injured children and other relatives are now in stable condition.

“The child is doing well now,” he said. “There has been a big improvement since yesterday, and she will be discharged from the hospital soon.”

Those who were given a new chance at life are grateful to have survived. But the trauma remains.

They cannot easily forget watching their homes and communities being reduced to rubble before their eyes, or seeing colleagues and loved ones disappear in the flood.

For them, survival has brought not only relief, but also a lasting grief that is still difficult to put into words.