A fresh flash flood tore through Nepal's Budhi Gandaki River valley in Gorkha district before dawn on Sunday, October 11, sending a wall of black, debris-filled water crashing down the steep Himalayan gorge. Local officials estimate that 35 to 40 houses were swept away, along with at least six bridges, including motorable crossings and suspension footbridges, and a construction camp at the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project. Reports on the number of missing vary between four and ten people, no deaths have been confirmed so far, and rescuers, including police and helicopters, have been pulling dozens of people to safety. Authorities suspect a landslide may have blocked the river and then burst, but the exact cause is still under investigation.

The timing makes it hurt even more, because it comes less than two months after the August 26 disaster, when an ice and rock avalanche near the Tibet border sent a monster flood down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems. That earlier catastrophe killed well over a thousand people, with thousands more reported missing, and left entire valleys devastated across several districts, including parts of Gorkha. The video of this latest surge, showing dark water and mist roaring through a narrow valley, shows how quickly natural blockages in the Himalayas can turn into deadly floods with almost no warning. For communities still counting their dead and rebuilding from August, this second blow raises tough questions about how prepared Nepal's mountain regions really are for the next one.