Himalayan Disaster: Mountain Collapse Triggers Massive Landslide into Nepal’s Kaligandaki River

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Days of torrential rainfall culminated in a catastrophic disaster across western Nepal on Monday, September 28, 2026 as an entire mountainside collapsed into the Kaligandaki River, sending millions of tons of rock and soil crashing into the valley below. The massive landslide wiped out critical infrastructure, displaced hundreds of residents, and triggered widespread emergencies downriver.

Dramatic footage captured by stunned local residents shows the hillside giving way in a matter of seconds. A towering plume of dust and debris billowed across the gorge as rockfall violently choked the flow of the Kaligandaki River, raising immediate alarms over potential flash flooding and dam breaches downstream.

According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the surge along the Kaligandaki River has caused extensive physical destruction across Gandaki Province.

The impact on local infrastructure has been catastrophic, with Parbat District bearing the brunt of the destruction as over 100 homes were leveled—part of a broader wave of damage that destroyed more than 140 houses and displaced at least 1,500 residents across 435 households. Travel across the region has ground to a halt after the swollen river swept away a crucial concrete bridge connecting Syangja and Gulmi districts, severing main transport routes and leaving local communities isolated.

Meanwhile, regional power systems face severe disruptions; emergency crews halted generation and opened all spillway gates at the 144-MW Kali Gandaki 'A' hydropower project in Beltari to avert catastrophic flooding, while damaged high-voltage transmission lines have knocked hundreds of additional megawatts offline.

The collapse follows an intense monsoon spell that has battered central and western Nepal, softening high-altitude slopes and triggering secondary disasters across neighboring districts. In nearby Manang district, heavy weather also triggered a high-altitude avalanche that killed two mountaineers and left 10 others missing on Himlung Himal.

Ground-based search and rescue teams, alongside local authorities, are working around the clock to clear debris, evacuate families at immediate risk, and assess the threat posed by potential natural damming along the riverbed. Officials continue to urge residents living near the riverbanks of the Kaligandaki, Narayani, and Tinau rivers to move to higher ground as erratic rainfall persists.