Flood cuts off northern Gorkha’s lifeline, disrupts Manaslu trekking season https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/10/14/flood-cuts-off-northern-gorkha-s-lifeline-disrupts-manaslu-trekking-season

gyalchi October 14, 2026 · 3 min read

The Kathmandu Post:

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.

Flood cuts off northern Gorkha’s lifeline, disrupts Manaslu trekking season https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/10/14/flood-cuts-off-northern-gorkha-s-lifeline-disrupts-manaslu-trekking-season

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