Nepal’s devastating 2021 floods show need for early warning systems in the Himalayas: ‘I lost everything’

“We have never seen such floods here. I lost everything I had saved until now. My hotel is gone, and so is my shop”, he said, pointing towards the debris of his multi-storied hotel in Melamchi Bazaar, beyond which lies massive boulders and rubble, even two years after the disaster, on lands that had once been lush paddy fields and trout farms.

Shreshta’s life was one of many shattered by devastating twin floods that hit Nepal’s Melamchi and Helambu municipalities in 2021, disasters that environmentalists say serve as stark examples of the havoc that climate change will increasingly wreak on the fragile ecosystem of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region (HKH) and highlight the need for early warning systems.

Situated in the lap of the Himalayas in central Nepal’s Bagmati region, Melamchi in Sindhupalchowk district was once a bustling town, frequented by backpackers and tourists as a stopover en route to Helambu and further to the Jugal-Himal trek.

Melamchi was a popular destination for foreign tourists until the infamous earthquake of 2015 kept most tourists away.

In 2021, floods struck on June 15 and July 31. Melamchi and Helambu were ravaged by a debris-laden flood, stretching 40km (25 miles) downstream from the mountains.

Twenty people lost their lives in the Helambu-Melamchi floods, which included two Indians and a Chinese citizen, while a handful remained missing. Over 360 families were reportedly displaced, with their homes and farms destroyed. Downstream in Melamchi Bazar, motorway bridges, suspension bridges, government buildings and houses were destroyed.

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Pakistani mountain villages threatened by floods from melting glaciers fight for their future

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has called on the