A California mother who had traveled to Nepal for what she described as a dream journey has shared the terror of being trapped in a devastating flash flood that has killed more than 600 people.
Anjana Raja and her husband, Pattabiraman Venkatesan, of the Bay Area, were among the Americans who survived Wednesday’s catastrophic disaster.
Raja said she believed she was moments from death when she saw an enormous wall of water racing toward them near Nepal’s border with China.
Video captured a torrent estimated to be as high as 160 feet tearing through the Rasuwa district after a massive collapse of glacial rock and ice — an event so forceful it registered as a magnitude 5.2 tremor.
Authorities say as many as 682 people have been confirmed dead, while thousands remain missing, including roughly 90 Americans. No U.S. citizens have been confirmed among the dead.
Raja recalled sitting on a bus when the driver and passengers near the front suddenly bolted, abandoning those still onboard as the landslide and floodwaters closed in.
“I knew I was going to die. I knew I was going to die,” she told CBS News, explaining that the thought struck her as the towering surge of water advanced toward them.
Speaking to ABC News, Raja described the flood as “water mixed with the mud” rising “a good 50 to 60 feet high,” adding: “It stood like a serpent right there staring at us. Like a cobra’s head staring at you.”
She said she immediately grabbed her bag and her husband by the collar to rush out. She continued: “I just said, ‘leave the bus right away or we’re gonna die.’”
The couple and other bus passengers ran to a nearby camp and ascended to higher ground as the water flooded the streets.
As they climbed frantically, Raja remembered seeing the water level rising toward them, which made her think it was over for them.
Fortunately, the water never reached their level.
“It just came like a roar, it sucked a bunch of buses, SUVs, people, the basecamp, everything — took it in, turned it, turned it all upside down and dumped it into the ground,” Raja said of the water’s power.
She had been in Nepal to do a spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. The peak is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and believers of the pre-Buddhist Bon religion.
Instead, she ended up spending the night in a goat shed with other survivors before being airlifted by rescuers the next day. The couple made contact with their daughter, a physician in California.
Venkatesan, her husband, described their survival as a “miracle” and strengthened his appreciation of life. They said they still plan on one day finishing their pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.
The flooding is believed to have been triggered when the lower part of a glacier broke off and fell from a height of around 17,000 feet, smashing into a valley floor, creating what is known as an ice avalanche.
It was not clear what caused the glacier to collapse, but the powerful torrent of water and debris it caused swept away homes, roads and businesses in Nepal.
