By Manish, Mountain Hike Nepal · Kathmandu · Updated 11 October 2026
Quick answer (11 October 2026): No, the Manaslu Circuit and Tsum Valley are not open right now. A flash flood hit the Budhi Gandaki river in Gorkha before dawn on Sunday, 11 October, destroying several bridges on the approach road and trail. This is a separate, new event from the 6 September Namrung flood that closed and then reopened the route earlier this season. We’re treating Manaslu and Tsum as not operable for new departures until the Manaslu Conservation Area Project (MCAP) or the Gorkha District Administration Office (DAO) says otherwise. This page covers what’s confirmed, what isn’t, and what we’d do about a booking.
What’s Inside This Page
- What happened, and when
- Bridges and settlements affected
- Missing people, casualties and the rescue response
- What caused it (not yet confirmed)
- Downstream risk: Benighat, Trishuli, Mugling
- What this means for trekking and bookings
- Other regions, and our reopening estimate
- How this differs from the 6 September Namrung flood
- What we don’t know yet
- Frequently Asked Questions
What happened, and when
A flash flood hit the Budhi Gandaki river in Chumnubri Rural Municipality, Gorkha district, before dawn on Sunday, 11 October 2026. NDRRMA’s flood forecasting section issued an alert at around 6:40am. Water began coming down from the Chumchet area at around 4am, and residents and trekkers in the area fled after hearing the river rise. The Flood Forecasting Division’s own notice put river levels “above the danger level” and said they kept fluctuating through the morning. We haven’t found specific meter readings we can independently confirm, so we’re not publishing a number here.
This is a developing story. The figures below — house counts, missing persons, bridge damage — have moved within hours in the reporting we’ve checked. Treat everything here as preliminary, and confirm with us directly before making any decision based on it.
Bridges and settlements affected
Nepalnews.com, citing Gorkha Assistant Chief District Officer Netra Prasad Sharma, reports six bridges lost: two motorable and four suspension. Kathmandu Post’s reporting independently confirms most of the same crossings. But it describes three of them as damaged rather than fully swept away — a real discrepancy between sources on severity that we’re not going to paper over. Here’s both counts, so you can see where they agree and where they don’t:
Confirmed swept away (named in multiple sources)
- Arughat bridge, linking Gorkha and Dhading districts (motorable) — named by Ratopati, Kathmandu Post and nepalnews.com
- Soti bridge, linking wards 2 and 3 of Aarughat Rural Municipality (motorable, steel) — Kathmandu Post, nepalnews.com
- Bailey bridge connecting wards 1 and 3 of Dharche Rural Municipality — nepalnews.com
- Old suspension footbridge connecting Nyakchet and Sirdibas, Chumnubri-3 — Kathmandu Post
Reported lost or damaged, sources disagree on severity
- Nyakchet–Philim Bazar bridge, the Manaslu/Tsum junction — Home Minister Sudan Gurung said the flood destroyed this bridge; we haven’t seen independent confirmation beyond that statement
- Machhakhola–Kerauja footbridge — Kathmandu Post lists this as swept away; nepalnews.com’s count describes it as damaged
- Thado Bharyang–Jagat footbridge — nepalnews.com lists this as damaged, not confirmed destroyed
- Ghattekhola (Sirdibas)–Philim footbridge — nepalnews.com lists this as damaged, not confirmed destroyed
Either way, the practical result is the same: the flood has cut the Arughat → Soti → Machha Khola → Jagat approach to Manaslu at several points. Right now, no clear road or trail route gets you in.
Settlements and houses
Kathmandu Post, citing administrative chief Narayan Prasad Sapkota, puts the toll at an estimated 35 to 40 houses lost. The damage spans Jagat Bagar, Salleri and Ghattikhola in Chumnubri. The flood swept away Salleri bazaar entirely; Jagat bazaar and Machha Khola bazaar took serious damage. Officials consider about 20 to 22 more houses in Salleri, Dharche-3, at risk but not yet lost. A Ratopati headline also reports Syaule bazaar, on the Dhading side at Arughat, washed away. We’ve only seen the headline, not a confirming article, so we’re flagging it as unconfirmed. Floodwaters also swept away a construction camp and equipment at the 341MW Budhi Gandaki hydropower project in Salleri.
Missing people, casualties and the rescue response
Reports on the number missing don’t fully agree yet. Kathmandu Post’s detailed reporting counts four people as missing — they were sheltering in a riverside shed in Chumchet (Chumnubri-6) — plus four to five herders out of contact while travelling from Sirdibas toward Chumling. That’s roughly eight to nine people in total. Nepalnews.com, citing the Assistant CDO, gives a round figure of ten missing. We’d treat “around 10, including 4 confirmed missing in Chumchet” as the most defensible summary right now, rather than picking one number to sound more precise than the reporting actually is.
No source has confirmed any deaths as of this writing. Ratopati reports tourists stranded on the Manaslu Circuit after the bridges went, though no number or location has been published for them. The Nepali Army rescued six people by helicopter from Jagat, an area Kathmandu Post flags for landslide risk. Home Minister Sudan Gurung said he was heading to the affected area (Ratopati). Gandaki province’s health ministry says health facilities in Philim, Salleri, Jagat and Machhakhola carry comparatively lower risk because they sit at higher elevation than the riverbed settlements.
What caused it (not yet confirmed)
Binod Parajuli, a hydrologist with the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology’s (DHM) Flood Forecasting Section, told Kantipur that satellite images show a large landslide near Chumchet, likely from the day before (Saturday, 10 October). He said the landslide may have dammed a tributary of the Budhi Gandaki, and that a sudden release from that dam may have triggered the flood. He was explicit that this explanation is still preliminary. Separately, a Lokpa resident told Kathmandu Post there had been no rain in the area. That’s a local observation, not an official DHM reading, so we’re not saying DHM ruled out rain. We’re not going to name a confirmed cause here, and we’d be cautious of any page that already does.
Downstream risk: Benighat, Trishuli, Mugling
The Flood Forecasting Division warned of “extreme high risk” along the Trishuli River as far downstream as Benighat. That’s where the Budhi Gandaki meets the Trishuli. The division urged residents around Mugling, Chitwan and Nawalparasi to stay alert. This doesn’t on its own confirm a Prithvi Highway closure near the confluence — we haven’t found a source tying this specific flood warning to a road closure there, so we’re not adding that claim. If you’re driving the Kathmandu–Pokhara road today, check current conditions with us before you leave. See our main Nepal travel update for the separate Gajuri road subsidence that’s already affecting that route this week.
What this means for trekking and bookings
We’re treating the Manaslu Circuit and Tsum Valley as not operable for new departures until MCAP or the Gorkha DAO issues its own assessment. No such official trekking notice has turned up in anything we’ve checked yet, so expect one later today or in the coming days. The flood has cut the lower approach at multiple points, and there’s currently no clear road or trail way in from Arughat.
A group already on the trail above Samagaun could exit east over Larkya La toward the Manang side. We haven’t verified current conditions on that side of the pass, so confirm with your guide before relying on it. Do not attempt an exit down the Budhi Gandaki while bridges are out and water levels are unsettled.
For bookings, we’d postpone or reroute Manaslu and Tsum departures for at least the next two to three weeks. Bridge replacement is slow work at the best of times. This week is also Dashain, Nepal’s biggest festival, which will slow the response further. We’ll publish a fuller update once DAO or MCAP issue their own assessment.
Other regions, and our reopening estimate
Are Everest, Annapurna or Langtang affected by this flood?
No. This flood is confined to the Budhi Gandaki in Gorkha district. Everest (Khumbu) has no connection to it and is running normally. Annapurna has a separate, unrelated problem: Manang’s access road, power and telecom are still recovering from the 27 September Marsyangdi flood and avalanche, a different river on a different date. Langtang has its own separate issue too: the Syabrubesi road is still out from the 26 August Bhote Koshi flood, also a different river system. Three distinct events, three distinct rivers — none of them got worse because of today’s Manaslu flood.
When will Manaslu reopen? Our honest estimate
This is our own estimate, not an official timeline — neither MCAP nor the Gorkha DAO has published one yet. For foot access on temporary crossings, we’d guess 2 to 4 weeks is realistic if repair crews move once Dashain eases off: the September Namrung flood took about 3 days for a single bridge, but this flood took out multiple bridges, two of them motorable, and Dashain (11–25 October) will slow labour and logistics for at least the first half of that window. For vehicle access on rebuilt motorable bridges, we’d expect considerably longer — more likely 2 to 3 months — since permanent bridge rebuilds move far slower than temporary footbridge repairs. We’ll revise this the moment MCAP or the Gorkha DAO says anything official.
How this differs from the 6 September Namrung flood
Manaslu has already had one flood closure and reopening this season. It’s worth keeping the two events separate rather than treating this as a continuation. The Namrung flood on 6 September closed the route; temporary bridges reopened it within about three days. Late September brought heavy snowfall that ended the climbing season early and triggered a landslide above Samagaun. By 6 October, jeeps could reach Jagat again and around 200 tourists a day were entering the region. Today’s flood reverses that recovery. Any page, listing or itinerary still saying “Manaslu is open” as of 11 October is out of date.
What we don’t know yet
- The confirmed cause — DHM’s landslide-and-release explanation is still preliminary.
- A final, agreed count of destroyed vs. damaged bridges — our two main sources don’t fully match.
- The exact number of people missing, and whether any of the “out of contact” herders are found safe.
- How many tourists are stranded on the circuit, and where.
- When MCAP or the Gorkha DAO will issue an official trekking notice or route assessment.
- A repair timeline for the lost bridges, and whether it will be affected by Dashain.
We’ll update this page as these become clear.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. A flash flood on the Budhi Gandaki destroyed or damaged several bridges on the approach on 11 October 2026. We’re treating the route as not operable for new departures until MCAP or the Gorkha DAO confirms otherwise.
No. The 6 September Namrung flood closed and then reopened the route within days. This is a new, separate flash flood on 11 October, after the route had already recovered and was running normally again.
Not confirmed yet. A DHM hydrologist’s preliminary assessment points to a landslide near Chumchet damming a tributary before it released suddenly. A local resident reported no rain in the area, though that’s not an official rainfall reading.
We’d postpone or reroute departures for at least two to three weeks, since bridge repairs plus Dashain are both likely to slow the response. Contact us directly and we’ll help you rebook or switch to a different region.
Related Guides
- Nepal Travel Update: Which Treks Are Open After the Floods — the full roundup of every region, including this flood
- Manaslu Circuit Trek — suspended for new departures; contact us before booking
This page reflects information as of 11 October 2026, the morning this flood hit. This is a developing story and we’re updating it as new details are confirmed. Check the date at the top before you rely on anything here, and contact us directly for the latest before making a booking decision.
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