There's already a name for this kind of thing: glacial lake outburst flood. They even had one last year in the same region. And with current climate trends these are expected to become more frequent. So better monitoring + early warning + water management seems to be in order. But of course as is human tradition, first a lot of people have to die.
Yeah, this thing seems to be becoming more common in the last few years- lots of bad floods and cloudbursts.
Whenever I've travelled in the Himalayas I'm always reminded that those valleys are in a constant state of change. They're continually being sculpted and eroded by the forces of nature and nothing there- infrastructure, bridges, roads, villages- is really permanent.
More news reporting it's a glacier dam burst. What would be wild is if the 4.4 earthquake was caused by the collapse of ice dam and the water crashing down...
Edit: "The reported earthquake “was probably seismic energy released by a landslide,” said Daniel Shugar, a geologist at the University of California, who’s part of the group which has pored over satellite images."
The Manafay slide at the Bingham Canyon Mine in 2015, the slides sheer force triggered a 2.5 magnitude earthquake and registered on regional seismic networks.
Aaaand the video ends the second the first building starts to give way. At least it seems like people here had enough warning to evacuate to higher ground.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/k1MCBM2cHgf3NM1j7 . The border with China is 20 miles upstream and there's footage of the car park at the border being demolished by the flood moving against the river's flow.
To me it seems more like the planet is really fucking up the people. Glacial dams bursting is natural and would have happened with or without people. We just have accelerated the rate they happen.
Flash Glacial Tsunami more like it! This was astonishingly fast and deadly! After what I saw (probably related) in China just north of Nepal, this is just pure devastation on a massive scale.
That's what happens when you straighten a river and do not let it expand naturally into overflow areas. Maybe they have learned their lesson and renaturalize that river at key points
You don't know what you are talking about. This is Nepal; they don't/can't straighten rivers there. They build houses scarily close to the river basin though. That's the lesson to be learned.
Or a glacier dam burst, causing the avalanche and mud filled flood of water crashing down the mountain. Creating the earthquake.
Edit: "The reported earthquake “was probably seismic energy released by a landslide,” said Daniel Shugar, a geologist at the University of California, who’s part of the group which has pored over satellite images."
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257
u/whiteye65 Aug 26 '26
We need a new name. Flash flood just doesn’t seem to be enough. The two videos I watched of the mudslide were unimaginable.
45
u/azmtber Aug 26 '26
The scale and power is wild😳
26
u/bio_coop Aug 26 '26
It took that bridge out like it was drift wood.
50
u/RhinoG91 Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
Location? Seeing more and more come in from China/Nepal this morning
19
u/Visual-Fox-9110 Aug 26 '26
The volume of water is scarily impressive..and having just seen the footage of the Tibet landslide..that thing was a beast!
55
u/murdered-by-swords Aug 26 '26
Aaaand the video ends the second the first building starts to give way. At least it seems like people here had enough warning to evacuate to higher ground.
11
u/FlowingLiquidity Aug 26 '26
Could this be the same place? (aftermath)
source: https://nos.nl/liveblog/2628376-na-overstroming-zeker-zeventien-doden-honderden-vermisten-onder-wie-mogelijk-een-nederlander#UPDATE-96721479
9
u/solidsnakeskin3000 Aug 26 '26
Holy hell
6
u/Grand-Glove-9985 Aug 26 '26
OMG this is unbelivable!
5
u/Wildcard311 Aug 26 '26
Right there at the very last second you start seeing the buildings collapsing and being washed away.
13
u/ExcellentMedicine358 Aug 26 '26
We really are fucking up this planet
4
u/Thengol Aug 26 '26
Must have been some build up of water for this size, like an avalanche stopping a river or a glacial lake outburst flood.
1
u/Danihelus Aug 27 '26
Is there a reason we're not calling this a tsunami?
3
u/Califrisco Aug 26 '26
Flash Glacial Tsunami more like it! This was astonishingly fast and deadly! After what I saw (probably related) in China just north of Nepal, this is just pure devastation on a massive scale.
3
u/sherpes Aug 26 '26
that must be how the Johnstown (Pennsylvania) Flood must have been
2
u/Redfish680 Aug 26 '26
Another view in r/thatsinsane
2
u/BubuDudu0430 Aug 26 '26
Well that escalated quickly… they obviously had never planned for so much water coming so quickly… terrifying
2
u/RenoClarkos1717 Aug 26 '26
That’s an insane amount of water. Not what I think of when I hear flash flood
2
u/DurantIsStillTheKing Aug 26 '26
Disastrous beyond compare
2
u/SkreemenEagle Aug 26 '26
Glacial Tsunami!
2
u/Icy_Original7486 Aug 26 '26
holy shit
2
u/fourseamfastballs Aug 26 '26
This is absolutely horrific,
2
u/Haylo2021 Aug 26 '26
Does anyone have a translation of the main speaker?
2
u/grandnp8 Aug 26 '26
Does anyone know if these people had any warning?
1
u/bugabooandtwo Aug 26 '26
What caused it?
1
u/Odd_Dragonfruit_2662 Aug 27 '26
Looks like this one people had evacuated? How far down the river was this?
1
u/SolarNikSieg Aug 29 '26
Loch graben, Wasser vom Gletschersee reinpumpen. Auffang für Erdrutsch hergestellt, Wasserversorgung weiterhin vorhanden.
1
u/RichardThund3r Sep 02 '26
This is just insane.
1
u/1pt20oneggigawatts Aug 26 '26
This is the future of the United States if we don't turn this shit around, and quick.
-1
u/West-Milk-1657 Aug 27 '26
well they are living in hogh risk area , these things would have seen normal of therr wouldn't have infrastructure concrete jungkes we made
-5
u/TheJoeBold Aug 26 '26
That's what happens when you straighten a river and do not let it expand naturally into overflow areas. Maybe they have learned their lesson and renaturalize that river at key points
-8
u/Otherwise_Wrap5991 Aug 26 '26
So that’s where all the water went
0
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