Nuwakot, Aug. 27 -- I was on my way to the Kantipur Publications office in Kathmandu on Wednesday morning when my wife called.

"There's been a flood in the Trishuli," she said. "Something's happened to Sole Bazaar and Betrawati - people are saying there's nothing left. Everyone's out on the road. There are videos of them panicking."

I didn't believe her. Sole is my village. I played in its lanes, worked its fields, walked its road to school every morning for years. If anyone should know that place, it's me - so surely I would have known if something like this were possible. I hadn't even heard that the rain had been unusually heavy. And this isn't a settlement the river reaches, not even in a bad monsoon. I let it go. I had a news meeti...