Flood cuts off northern Gorkha’s lifeline, disrupts Manaslu trekking season

With the October trekking season commencing, hotels from Yarukhola to Dobhan in Dharche Rural Municipality were being readied for tourists, as business owners counted on Dashain visitors to boost their earnings. Sunday’s Budhigandaki flood washed away hotels and homes, wiping out hopes of a strong trekking season and leaving residents asking for relief.

Ward 1 of Dharche Rural Municipality was among the worst-hit areas. Many residents who had prepared for a busy trekking season now face the loss of their homes and livelihoods.

“This is the start of the trekking season. When tourists arrive, we have a good income,” ward chair Ram Singh Gurung told Kantipur over the phone.

“We had hoped to use that money to celebrate Dashain. Instead, the flood swept away homes and hotels.”

More than two dozen hotels, including well-equipped lodges that catered to trekkers, were destroyed. The losses run into hundreds of millions of rupees as people are left without their main source of income.

The flood swept away five bridges in the area, including four footbridges and one motorable bridge, affecting around 1,000 people on either side of the river, Gurung said.

“We need bridges to reconnect the banks and reopen the trekking route,” he said. “Roads have been damaged at four points, cutting off tourist access to northern Gorkha.”

Twenty-four houses were destroyed and 15 others damaged by the flood between Yarukhola and Dobhan, displacing 76 people and putting another 70 at risk. Gurung estimated the damage in his ward at around Rs100 million.

Gurung said food supplies reaching displaced families remained inadequate. “Very little in relief supplies has reached us,” he said. Even a sack of rice would not meet a family’s immediate needs.

With Dashain approaching, flood-hit families are anxious. “We hear government warehouses are full of relief supplies, but the stock needs to reach the people who need them,” Gurung said.

Damaged roads hamper relief effort in remote villages

Ward 3 of Chumnubri Rural Municipality has also been badly hit. The homes of 23 families were destroyed, according to ward chair Ram Kumar Gurung, who said around 200 people needed some form of assistance. Restoring roads is an urgent need.

“Relief is reaching displaced families scattered across different areas. The immediate priority is to rebuild the roads washed away by the flood,” Gurung said.

Roads have been damaged around Sirdibas, Jagat, Salleri-Paiyun, Yaru, Khorlabesi and Kalubhir, making it difficult to take food and other essential supplies to affected wards, he said.

The flood also destroyed hotels in Tallo Bagar, a market hub in Jagat. Some of Tallo Bagar’s hotels have been swept away, cutting off a vital source of income for local people serving tourists,” Gurung said.

Trekkers stranded as Manaslu trails collapse

The damage to trekking trails across the Manaslu region has forced some visitors to turn back, while others remain stranded midway through their journeys. Some tourists are stuck in Chhekampar in ward 7 of Chumnubri and Jagat in ward 3, where damaged trails have blocked movement in both directions. With little prospect of the routes reopening immediately, those unable to continue their journeys are getting increasingly anxious.

Of the 97 tourists registered in Jagat, 12 returned but the rest were stuck there for three days, said Bhuwan Ojha, information officer at the Manaslu Conservation Area Project (MCAP).

“Jagat is cut off from both directions,” Ojha said. “Some stranded tourists flew out by chartering a helicopter, but many others are still there.”

Seventeen tourists who had been to Lokpa in Chumnubri-6 have returned, he said.

Visitors to Chum Valley face particular difficulties after the Sardibhir cantilever bridge, a key route out of the valley, was swept away. Those wishing to return have no option but to charter a helicopter flight, Ojha said.

There are 107 foreign and 80 Nepali visitors in the Chum Valley area. Nineteen foreign tourists were evacuated by helicopter.

Mid-September to mid-November is peak trekking season in the Manaslu region. Visitor numbers were expected to rise further this year. Arrivals had already picked up in the 2025-26 fiscal year, from 76 in mid-July to mid-August to 779 in mid-August to mid-September and 3,442 in mid-September to mid-October.

But the damage to trails during the peak season has disrupted itineraries and threatened the livelihoods of people dependent on tourism.

Pradip Rai, a trekking guide travelling to the Manaslu region with a group of Chinese tourists, turned back from Machhakhola on Monday after realising that he could not continue. “It was not possible to go further than Machhakhola,” he said.

Tourists who had travelled towards Nubri on Saturday were continuing with plans to cross the Larkya La pass. MCAP said the trail posed no problem for those who had crossed Filim in Chumnubri-3 and entered Nubri. “The main problem is on the stretch between Filim and Jagat,” Ojha said. “There is no trail left in this section.”

Locals said the destruction of trekking routes at the start of the main tourist season could cause severe losses to businesses already struggling with the disaster. “This is the season when tourists start arriving in greater numbers,” said Ganesh Karki of Jagat. “Tourists who stayed in Jagat on Saturday night cannot go down or continue upwards. They are stuck.”