Nepal, Sept. 4 -- On August 26, 2026, a glacier with bedrock below it collapsed above the Bhotekoshi River in the Lhende catchment on the Nepal-China border. What followed buried entire settlements in Rasuwa and Nuwakot, swept away hydropower stations under construction and in operation, and killed more than 1,250 people across Nepal and Tibet combined, a toll still rising a week later. Twelve operational projects (431.1 MW) plus 15 projects under construction (470 MW), for a combined 901.1 MW of capacity affected across all projects. Over 100 workers were unaccounted for at the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 project alone in the disaster's first days.

This is not an isolated example of floods impacting hydropower. Nepal has lost hydropower inf...