Sitting at about 3,800 meters (12,467 feet) above sea level is Thame, a small Sherpa village located within Nepal's majestic Everest region. This village is not just picturesque; it’s rich with history, being home to many legendary Sherpa climbers, including the iconic Tenzing Norgay, who first conquered Mount Everest alongside explorer Edmund Hillary.
On the fateful day of August 16, tragedy struck when this quaint village was overwhelmed by icy floodwaters, the result of a glacial lake bursting its banks. The chaos resulted in the displacement of around 60 villagers and obliterated numerous homes, hotels, and even community facilities such as schools and health clinics.
What’s more alarming for the residents, who number around 300, is the growing uncertainty surrounding their safety. The incident has left many pondering whether it is time to abandon their homes entirely.
Miraculously, no fatalities or injuries were reported from the flood, which locals say was due to their fortunate timing; the disaster struck during the daytime. Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, expressed the community's relief, noting, “If this had happened at night, between 200 to 300 people would have lost their lives.”
Feeling the emotional toll, native villager Yangji Doma Sherpa revealed, “We are still in shock, and we are still crying when we (villagers) talk to each other.” She added, “The bigger question is if this place is safe enough to live now,” highlighting the new reality residents face.
Downhill neighbors were equally impacted by the flood. Pasang Sherpa, who resides in Tok Tok village two days' trek away from Thame, recounted his escape: “Because of the flood, some parts of our village were swept away... thankfully, we managed to run up the hill,” he said, still visibly shaken by the horrifying visuals he witnessed.
The normally vibrant river, typically milky and frothy, transformed to dark brown, laden with boulders and debris, swirling dangerously fast. The sound and the sight left him rattled, and he is now contemplating whether he’ll ever return to Tok Tok.
Locals are quick to point out how proper monitoring could have lowered the flood risk posed by glacial lakes situated upstream. Many believe more attention is warranted, as numerous lakes remain overlooked by scientists and regulatory bodies alike.
Disaster preparedness, they lament, is almost nonexistent, especially for villagers like them. Ms. Doma Sherpa stated, “A few villages downstream of Imja glacial lake have been trained on how to run away in case of flooding, but there has been no training whatsoever for our village.”
Over the past five decades, Nepal has witnessed over ten glacial lake outburst incidents, with four occurring within the Everest's Dudhkosi River basin. An earlier incident back in 1985 devastated the community when avalanche debris crashed down, causing the Dig Tsho lake to overflow and leading to catastrophic damages downstream.
The January fiscal forces picture doesn't seem to paint bright futures for such vulnerable communities. The wider challenge is mirrored by climate change, which threatens thousands of glaciers speckled across the Himalayas, elevates risks for countless nearby human settlements.
Monitoring of glaciers and vulnerable lakes is severely lacking, putting communities like Thame at risk. Very few lakes are equipped with early warning systems, leaving them vulnerable to sudden outbursts.
A 2021 study from the University of Leeds delivered unsettling findings, reporting Himalayan glaciers have been losing ice at ten times the average rate compared to historical measures. Worse, research published by Nature journal indicated Mount Everest’s South Col Glacier has lost nearly half of its mass since the 1990s due to rising temperatures.
The situation became so dire with Imja Lake, located beneath Mount Everest, which had to be drained back in 2016 to avoid catastrophic flooding downstream. New glacial lakes have emerged recently, many increasing in size, raising alarms over possible future floods.
Even the local geography isn’t helping; retreating glaciers have destabilized the terrain, causing more landslides and avalanches, which can languidly pool and break dams, exacerbated by potential glacial lake outburst floods. Alarmingly, among the roughly two dozen glacial lakes identified as risky by authorities, those involved on August 16 slipped under the radar, having been neither listed nor monitored.
“They were the smallest ones, and no one cared about them,” Mr. Tshering Sherpa lamented, adding, “Imagine what could happen if the big ones burst out. There are many of them waiting to cause trouble.”
After inspections post-disaster, officials from Nepal’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) confirmed five small glacial lakes near the flood source, with one lake having partially burst and another fully collapsing. “Which means the three other lakes at the same location could burst out anytime like the others,” warned Ms. Doma Sherpa.
The shared sense of dread among the residents deepens as they worry particularly for more vulnerable groups, such as the elderly. “Now people also know the risk,” she mentioned, “and they don’t feel safe anymore.”
Global warming and its devastating impacts seem to evolve daily, with the latest changes leading some locals to declare many of the flood’s damages are beyond repair. For years, the river had flowed through one part of the Khumbu Valley, but after the flood, it now deviates and threatens villagers directly, consuming nearly half the town's geographical footprint.
With much of the ground now filled with debris and rocks, Ms. Doma Sherpa expressed her helplessness: “This is not like rebuilding the houses destroyed by the quake. When you have no land left, what can you build on?”
The disaster also dealt significant blows to the sole hydropower facility supplying energy to the area. Mud and debris inundated the reservoir, sabotaging its operation, resulting not only in blackouts but also severed communication lines, trapping the community.
“This area has been cut off from the outside world since the disaster struck, and this situation is quite scary,” shared Mingma Sherpa, leader of the youth group at nearby Namche, who popularized trekking. This incident underscored concerns about the fragility of their environment; slow-onset impacts from climate change have rarely garnered attention until considerable disasters emerged.
Local officials are beginning to take notice. Anil Pokhrel, chief of NDRRMA, mentioned efforts are underway to assemble experts to assess the peril posed by the remaining upstream lakes surrounding Thame, aiming to determine safety for villagers affected below.
Despite acknowledgments of risks, locals observe little actionable change. “We hear of big plans, especially during conferences, but soon after, they become forgotten,” lamented Ms. Doma Sherpa. “We can’t forget about what this flood has done, especially when we know other lakes could also release disasters on us any time.”
