Nepal flood toll reaches 939 as rescuers race to reach trapped hydropower workers

Rescue teams in Nepal were working on Monday, August 31, 2026, to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers after catastrophic floods struck the Nepal–Tibet border region on Wednesday, August 26.

Nepal’s confirmed death toll had risen to 939, while Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths in Tibet. More than 4,400 people were listed as missing across the border region. Al Jazeera separately reported that nearly 1,000 people had died and more than 4,000 remained missing, supporting the scale of the disaster.

Nepali officials said 933 people were missing from hydropower projects. About 500 were feared trapped in tunnels and underground areas at damaged sites in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. Rescue workers face deep mud, debris, high water, unstable terrain and the continuing threat of further flooding.

Army engineers began blasting operations at the Upper Trishuli project after about 250 people were rescued there over the weekend. Forty-two workers were still believed missing at that site. Nepal has also sought specialist tunnel-rescue assistance from India and China.

The floods destroyed more than 40 bridges and disrupted about 700 megawatts of generating capacity, roughly 10 percent of Nepal’s power capacity. The Red Cross estimated that more than 93,000 people had been affected.

Authorities cautioned that casualty and missing-person figures remained subject to revision as access improved. Search operations had repeatedly been interrupted by bad weather, although conditions allowed work to accelerate on Monday.