Right now, in plain words
Situation for today, Nepal time — refreshes with every visit.
6 rivers are above warning level right now — including Kathmandu-8, Kathmandu. Rapti Sonari-9, Banke is also over its threshold. If you live near any of these banks, move to higher ground early — flowing water a foot deep can knock you down, and two feet can carry a car.
On the roads: 3 corridors are fully closed — Kechana-Chandragadhi-Charali-Ilam-Phidim, Ganeshchok-Taplejung-Olanchungola (Mechi Ragmarg). Check before you leave, not after you're stuck.
Seismically, the week's biggest shake so far is M4.9 — 90 km NNE of Chitre, Nepal (2026-09-08, 10 km deep). Below magnitude 5, most people feel a jolt and life goes on — no damage expected from this one.
How to read this page
Think of this page as four noticeboards plus a diary. Highway corridors shows roads the Department of Roads has reported blocked or half-open, worst first — a road that keeps closing ranks above a one-off closure. Flood alerts are live DHM river gauges: each has a warning level, and the moment the water reaches it, the alert appears here. Recent earthquakes come from America's geological survey within minutes of the shaking. Incidents are first-responder police reports filed through the BIPAD portal — fires, landslides, storms — and they arrive hours late by nature, because someone has to file them by hand first. The 14-day chart at the bottom shows whether trouble is rising or fading.
Two honest labels to know: if a section says a feed is unavailable, that means unknown — never read it as good news. And every timestamp on this page is in Nepal time spirit: fresh data, plainly dated.
Monsoon and floods, simply explained
Every June, monsoon winds pile rain onto the Himalayan foothills, and Nepal's rivers swell with it through September. Most flood deaths here don't come from the giant famous rivers — they come from smaller streams that rise a metre in an hour while people sleep. That's why the warning-level system exists: hydrologists worked out, gauge by gauge, the exact height where water starts leaving the channel, and the number on this page is that height. When you see water at or above warning level, the danger isn't coming — it's there.
If you live near a river, learn your gauge's name on this page before monsoon, keep documents and medicines in one bag through the season, and agree with your family now where you'll meet on high ground. The national flood helpline is 1155, rescue is 1234.
Earthquakes: what the numbers mean
Nepal sits where India is slowly pushing under Tibet, so the ground moves — a magnitude 4 tremor every few weeks is normal life here. The scale is logarithmic, which is a fancy way of saying each whole number is roughly 32 times more energy: a 5.0 releases about 32 times the energy of a 4.0. Below 5, expect a scare and swinging bulbs. Around 6, weak buildings crack. The 2015 Gorkha quake was 7.8. Depth matters too — a shallow 5.0 right under a town shakes harder than a deep 6.0 far away, which is why this page always shows depth next to magnitude.
Travelling while alerts are active
Three rules. First, check the corridor table before you load the bus — a road marked CLOSED in the morning can still be closed at night, and detours in the hills are long. Second, treat PARTIAL as a delay, not a green light: one-lane traffic through a landslide zone means hours of queuing and a small but real risk of the slope moving again. Third, never cross flowing water on foot or in a vehicle to "save time" — most monsoon road deaths are exactly that decision. Night travel through alert zones is the riskiest combination of all; wait for daylight.
Where the numbers come from
Everything live on this page is machine-read from official publishers: the NDRRMA BIPAD portal for roads, police reports and DHM river gauges; the US Geological Survey for earthquakes; NASA's FIRMS satellites for fire hotspots and EONET for regional events. No casualty toll is ever scraped — human figures appear only when verified and entered by hand, and the banner at the top of the site only ever fires on high-confidence official thresholds. Absence of data is always labelled unknown, never all clear.
Quick answers
- Is there a flood warning in Nepal right now?
- This page lists every live DHM river-gauge alert the moment it crosses its warning level — check the Flood alerts card above. During monsoon (June to September) new alerts can appear any day; outside monsoon the card is usually empty, which is good news.
- What does CLOSED vs PARTIAL mean for a road?
- CLOSED means no vehicles are passing — find another route or wait. PARTIAL (partially open) means one lane is moving, usually in turns, so expect long queues. Both come straight from the Department of Roads divisions reporting through the BIPAD portal.
- What do the water level and warning level numbers mean?
- Each river gauge has a warning level set by hydrologists — the height at which nearby banks start flooding. When the live water level reaches or passes it, an alert fires. A river at 3.76m against a 3.6m warning level is already dangerous; never wait for round numbers.
- What should I do if I feel an earthquake?
- Drop, cover and hold on — get under a sturdy table and hold it until the shaking stops. Stay indoors away from windows; if outside, move to open ground away from buildings and power lines. Expect aftershocks and check this page for the official magnitude.
- Where does this disaster data come from?
- Only official feeds: Nepal's NDRRMA BIPAD portal (roads, police incident reports, DHM flood gauges), the US Geological Survey for earthquakes, NASA satellite systems for fires and regional events. Casualty figures are never scraped — human tolls appear only when verified and entered by hand.
- Who do I call in an emergency in Nepal?
- Rescue 1234, Police 100, Ambulance 102, NDRRMA toll-free 1149, flood forecast (DHM) 1155. Save 1149 in your phone before monsoon — it is the national disaster helpline.