Nuwakot, Oct. 1 -- It was pouring down hard at Dhunge Bazar last Thursday, usually a bustling market along the road from Betrawati to Devighat.

Inside the half-open shutter of their shop, Naresh Dangol and his wife were working with rubber boots on, digging through mud, gravel and sand with pickaxes, shovels and hoes.

For the past two weeks, the couple have been working hard each day to clear the thick sludge that filled their home, clothing and cosmetics shop.

The floodwaters twisted and bent the shop's metal shutter, while mud piled up to the third floor of their house.

The August 26 Bhotekoshi flood, which sent the Trishuli river bursting its banks with extraordinary force, buried a decade of the Dangols' hard work and lifetime inv...