Following a massive flood on the Bhotekoshi river on Tuesday, the remote border town of Timure in Rasuwa district remains completely inaccessible by road, with vital trade and transport disrupted.

The supraglacial outburst flood has destroyed two key sections of the road between Syaphrubesi and Timure—a vital 16-kilometre stretch linking Nepal to the Chinese border. The landslides and riverbank erosion not only washed away nearly a kilometre of road at various places but also swept away the Nepal-China Friendship (Miteri) Bridge at Rasuwagadhi, halting all bilateral trade through the Rasuwa customs.

“This disaster has severely damaged our transport infrastructure,” said Kami Chhiring Tamang, ward chairperson of Gosainkunda Rural Municipality–2. “The government must immediately prioritise road-opening and restoring the border crossing,” he demanded.

Due to the road destruction, no vehicles can reach Timure. This has impacted food supply, emergency healthcare, and daily movement. “Without road access, we’re left with no choice but to hire expensive helicopters,” said Tamang. “Food transport is a major concern.”

Around 50 trucks, including four carrying apples and several laden with hydropower equipment, are stranded at the customs yard, said Chandiraj Gelal, an officer at Rasuwagadhi Customs Office. Meanwhile, 35 goods carriers from Nepal en route to China are stuck in Timure, unable to proceed due to the road and bridge collapse.

With the road link severed, labourers from Timure, Dahal Phedi, and Thuman—over 600 in total—are manually loading and unloading goods at the customs yard.

“Under normal conditions, they earn Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 per truck. In emergencies, fees shoot up to Rs60,000–Rs80,000,” Gelal said. But with the road blocked, even this source of income has vanished.

Chief of the Federal Road Supervision and Monitoring Office in Kathmandu, Shubha Raj Neupane, said efforts are underway to reopen one-way traffic within a week. “We’re carving paths out of the cliffs where feasible and planning to reinforce sections close to the river,” he said. A team of engineers is on the site for an assessment.

According to Neupane, Syaphrubesi to Rasuwagadhi is a 16 km section with three kilometres from Syaphrubesi and four kilometres from Timure usable, but the remaining nine kilometres—especially around the Lingling area—of the road is severely damaged. The road typically handles around 100 trucks daily, and efforts are being made to reopen trade before the Dashain festival, which falls in September last week this year.

Neupane also said Chinese authorities are preparing to build a temporary Bailey bridge over the Lhende river, which, once completed, will allow container trucks to resume cross-border travel.

A flash flood that originated in Tibet’s Lhende river and surged into the Bhotekoshi river has left a trail of destruction in northern Rasuwa, a mountain district in Bagmati Province. The devastation downstream has been immense, damaging infrastructure, sweeping away vehicles, and leaving at least nine dead and 19 people missing.