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Rasuwa flood: damage assessment
What was destroyed, project by project and category by category, and which numbers are preliminary, which is all of them.
Two separate money figures, never added together
Rs 200 billion is the preliminary estimate of damage to roads and bridges. Rs 1 billion is the relief money released by the government. They measure opposite things and are kept apart everywhere on this site.
Hydropower: 14 projects, about 748 MW
Nepal’s Bhote Koshi-Trishuli corridor carries a concentration of hydropower capacity, sited on the riverbank because that is where the water and the flat ground are. The Nepal Electricity Authority reports 14 projects damaged with a combined capacity of about 748 MW: 9 operating plants totalling 354 MW, and 5 under construction totalling 394 MW.
An earlier estimate the same day, from the Ministry of Energy, put the loss at 431 MW. Both figures were published on 27 August. That gap is a fair measure of how provisional every damage number on this page is.
| Project | District | What is reported |
|---|---|---|
| Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project | Rasuwa | Damaged. Sits on the Bhote Koshi immediately below the border crossing. |
| Chilime Hydropower | Rasuwa | Damaged. One of the country’s better-known community-shareholder projects. |
| Sanjen Khola Hydropower | Rasuwa | Damaged, on a Bhote Koshi tributary. |
| Upper Trishuli-1 | Rasuwa / Nuwakot | Damaged. One of the largest projects on the corridor. |
| Upper Trishuli-3B substation | Nuwakot | 220 kV substation damaged, which affects evacuation of power from the whole corridor. Twelve project staff were reported out of contact. |
| Trishuli Hydropower Station | Nuwakot | Damaged. One of Nepal’s oldest operating stations. |
| Devighat Hydropower Station | Nuwakot | Damaged. The furthest downstream site where damage has been reported. |
Roads and bridges
The Department of Roads confirms that the entire 42 km road linking Betrawati in Nuwakot to the Rasuwagadhi border crossing has been destroyed at multiple points, including several concrete bridges. A further 16 km stretch toward the border, recently upgraded with Chinese government financing, was also swept away.
That is not one road among many. It is Nepal’s principal overland trade and pilgrimage route to Tibet, so the damage has an economic tail well beyond the district. It is also the same road rescue teams need to reach the worst-hit settlements, which is why so much of the response has had to go by helicopter.
Suspension (jhulunge) bridges lost in the corridor matter more than the count suggests: in hill districts they are frequently the only way across a river for a village, so losing one cuts a settlement off entirely rather than lengthening a drive.
Buildings and services
- 9 commercial bank branches swept away, with 26 staff unaccounted for.
- The Rasuwa customs office at Timure lost contact with 15 employees.
- The Syabrubesi helipad destroyed, which slowed rescue flights into the upper valley on the first day.
- Power, phone and internet down across the valley, restored slowly and unevenly. This is the direct reason the missing-persons count is as high as it is.
- Dry port and customs facilities hit on both sides of the Rasuwagadhi-Gyirong crossing.
- Most river gauges destroyed on the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli, cutting warning time for anything that follows.
- No consolidated displacement figure has been published. UN OCHA names the number of people displaced, sheltering or in need as the priority information gap for the days ahead. This site will not estimate it.
The cost estimate, and what it does not include
Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Sunil Lamsal put damage to roads and bridges at about Rs 200 billion on 26 August, and described the figure as preliminary. It is a first-day estimate from one ministry covering one category of asset.
Not in that figure:
- The 14 damaged hydropower projects, and about 748 MW of lost generation while they are out.
- Private homes, shops, hotels and land.
- Agricultural losses downstream.
- Trade losses from the closed border route.
No full damage assessment exists yet. Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Chitwan are still being surveyed, and many of the damaged sites cannot currently be reached by road, which is also why insurers say claims will take weeks to settle.
Relief money released
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Central disaster relief fund | Rs 1 billion |
| Rasuwa district | Rs 10 million |
| Nuwakot district | Rs 10 million |
| Dhading district | Rs 5 million |
How to contribute to the government relief fund safely, including the official bank accounts and QR code.
Sources
- UN OCHA ReliefWeb rapid situation overview, 27 August 2026: hydropower, roads, banks and customs figures, drawing on the Nepal Electricity Authority, the Department of Roads, NDRRMA and Nepal Police.
- The Kathmandu Post: hydropower damage in the Syabrubesi area.
- Onlinekhabar: the ministerial damage estimate and the relief allocations.