Devastating floods on the Nepal-Tibet border in August 2026 killed hundreds of people, disrupted power supplies and damaged hydropower infrastructure, but a video circulating online showing floodwaters is not linked to the recent catastrophe. The footage predates the disaster and shows the Ranolia Hydropower Plant in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during catastrophic floods in August 2022.
"Several power projects were swept away along with debris during the devastating floods in Nepal. Reports from Nepal say 13 riverside power projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts have been affected. Sixty-five people working on the Langtang Hydropower Project are missing," reads a Hindi-language X post shared on August 26, 2026.
The attached nine-second video shows a fast-flowing river eroding the embankment of a power plant before washing away a substantial portion of the site.
Devastating floods struck the Nepal-Tibet border region on August 26, with a tsunami-like wall of water and mud sweeping through villages and towns along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers ( archived link).
At least 469 people have been killed, Nepali police said on August 28, while Chinese state media had earlier confirmed three dead. More than 1,400 people are missing, including hundreds of foreigners ( archived link).
Nepali army helicopter rescue teams were also working on the day to rescue around 100 people trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by the devastating flood ( archived link).
The Nepalese prime minister's office said in a statement that the army had been working in tough conditions. It did not give further details about the nationalities of those rescued or trapped.
The clip circulated with similar claims elsewhere on X and Instagram, but it was actually filmed in 2022 and shows floods that ravaged Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A reverse image search on Google found the same video uploaded on a Pakistan-based Instagram account on August 28, 2022 ( archived link).
Its caption reads: "Flood in Dubair", referring to Pakistan's Dubair valley -- a flood-prone area in the lower Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province ( archived link).
AFP reached out to the account owner, Saeed Anwar, a travel photographer and data analyst with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, who confirmed the video was filmed in Pakistan.
"I captured this video in August 2022 in Dubair, a village in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province," Anwar told AFP on August 27. "It shows the Ranolia hydropower project being swept away by heavy floodwaters."
Monsoon rains and flash floods devastated large parts of Pakistan at the time, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The floods killed more than 1,700 people and affected millions, according to UN figures (archived here and here).
Local media also reported the flooding severely damaged the Ranolia Hydropower Project, and it remained out of service six months after the disaster ( archived link).
Another user shared a clip of the flooding showing the same scene in a video comparing the area before and after the disaster ( archived link).
Anwar reshared the footage on his Instagram account after the Nepal floods, with a clarification that he filmed the clip in 2022 in Pakistan ( archived link).
AFP has debunked other false claims related to the flooding in Nepal.