Nepal Army Digs Out Power Station Buried in Flood Slush at Galchi

The Jehre power substation at Galchi, located 84 kilometres south of the Rasuwagadhi border with China, has become a symbol of the destruction wrought by last week's flash floods. The August 26 deluge completely submerged the facility, leaving a thick layer of silt and slush over transformers and other critical equipment.

Nepal Army personnel are now working at the site, digging out machinery buried under the debris. The force of the floodwaters also swept away concrete bridges and destroyed homes in the area. Along the banks of the nearby Trishuli River, twisted transformers and mangled wires lie strewn, marking the high-water line of the disaster.

An electrician at the station, Ramesh, recounted the moment the flood struck. He said workers received a warning that water was rushing toward them from higher ground and fled up a mountain to safety. The water level rose several feet above normal, and the entire station was left under water and slush. Dark water marks on the walls still reach almost to the roof.

The damage at Galchi is part of a wider crisis across Nepal's hydropower belt. Rescue teams are searching for around 900 workers and employees at various hydropower sites who have been out of contact since the floods. Many are feared trapped inside tunnels. Expert teams from India and China are assisting Nepalese rescuers in these operations.

Several hydropower plants have been severely damaged, a major setback for a country that relies on the sector for domestic supply and exports surplus electricity. At Galchi, the scale of the destruction is visible everywhere, from the ruined transformers on the riverbank to the water marks high on the walls of the submerged substation.