Bhadrak

Surviving by a matter of minutes as raging floodwaters tore through Nepal, Ramesh Das of Bhadrak, Odisha, recalled the harrowing ordeal that left him and his group fearing for their lives during the catastrophic August 26 flash floods after he made a safe return.

Das said his group began their journey towards Kathmandu on August 26, travelling along the banks of the Trishuli River, where they were alerted about the disaster.

"After about 40 to 50 kilometres, the police and army personnel stopped us. They told us that a huge disaster was heading this way and instructed us to immediately turn the vehicle around and flee. We quickly turned our vehicle around and fled. But if we had been delayed by even 10 to 15 minutes, it would have been grave," Das told ANI

Describing the scale of the flooding, Das said the water appeared to be nearly 80 to 100 feet high and was rushing down with a terrifying roar. "We saw buses, trucks, culverts, bridges, people, animals, birds on the sides--many people were being swept away in that floodwater. Seeing all that, we were terrified and sped up our vehicle ahead," he said.

The group managed to return to Pokhara, where they stayed for a day and a night. However, the danger was not over. The next day, while visiting the Manakamana temple to seek refuge in prayer, they were again warned by army personnel that floodwaters could reach the area and told to leave immediately.

Recalling the fear of those moments, Das said, "We were so terrified. We wondered if we would ever be able to make it back to Odisha or not. We thought our lives wouldn't be spared, that we wouldn't survive--that is what we were thinking at that moment."

Now safely back home in Bhadrak, Das expressed deep gratitude for his survival. "From the depth of my heart, I offer profound prayers to Lord Jagannath and my village deity Lord Mahadev, acknowledging that it is solely by their blessings that we have safely reached Odisha," he said.

Meanwhile, a group of 39 Kailash Mansarovar Yatra pilgrims from Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, also safely reached India on Monday after being detoured from their original return route due to devastating flash floods in Nepal.

Yogesh, one of the pilgrims, described the scale of the destruction they encountered while attempting to return.

"There were 39 people in our group; we started the journey from our village. Our route was to Kerung; from that route, we reached Mansarovar. While returning, the accident took place. Everything was taken away by the flood, immigration was affected, and none of the villages was left," Yogesh told ANI.

The flash floods, which occurred on August 26, caused widespread damage in the mountainous regions of Nepal.

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According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the death toll rose to 903 on Monday, while around 4,247 people remained missing. A total of 10,451 people have been rescued so far.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Monday that 158 Indian citizens had been evacuated safely from Nepal following catastrophic flooding that struck the Himalayan nation during the preceding week.