Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers

From melting glaciers to super intense cyclones, the effects of climate change were seen across the globe this week.

- Rhea Yasmine

Mr Mingma Rita Sherpa was not home when the muddy torrent roared into his village in Nepal, and when he returned, he did not recognise his once beautiful settlement.

It took just moments for freezing flood waters to engulf Thame in the foothills of Mount Everest, a disaster that climate change scientists say is an ominous sign of things to come in the Himalayan nation.

"There is no trace of our house...nothing is left," Mr Mingma Rita said. "It took everything we owned."

Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after ferocious monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated entire neighbourhoods in the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 236 people.

Last weekend's disaster was the latest of several disastrous floods to hit the country in 2024.

Thame was submerged in August by a glacial lake that burst high in the mountains above the small village, famous for its mountaineering residents.

It was once home to Mr Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world's highest mountain, Everest, along with New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary.

Mr Mingma Rita said: "We are afraid to return, there are still lakes above."