Essay: ‘I watched a town I loved disappear into the river’

A personal account of Syabru Besi's destruction by flood, as seen by a journalist who once called it home.

September 13, 2026 One Min Read

POLICY WIRE — Kathmandu, Nepal — For 11 years, the same hotel room welcomed a writer to Syabru Besi, a quiet Nepali town perched on a ridge that marks the start of the Langtang Valley trek. The place remained unchanged, with its familiar sounds and routines, even as the world around it shifted.

The Trishuli River flowed far below, hidden from view but ever-present in the night. By 2025, Syabru Besi had evolved—adding a café and a popular momo restaurant—but it still held onto its small-town charm. It was more than a stop on the way to the mountains; it was a community on the rise.

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Then, on August 31, 2026, the writer returned not as a tourist, but as part of a CNN team covering the aftermath of a devastating flood. What they found was a town gone—its market empty, its café and hotel washed away, the Trishuli River now rising to meet them. The flood, triggered by a glacier collapse, had wiped out entire communities along a 45-mile stretch, leaving at least 1,300 dead and thousands missing.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)

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